Appointment of Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal Lay Vice-President

Stephanie Bown was appointed as Lay Vice-President of the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal on 3 March 2019 following a competitive election process and on the retirement of the previous Lay Vice-President,  Millius Palayiwa.  Stephanie will serve as SDT Lay Vice-President, a Director of the SDTAL Board and a member of the SDT Policy Committee for a term of three years.

Stephanie practised as a doctor in the NHS for eleven years before completing a law degree and joining the Medical Protection Society (MPS) where she worked in the field of professional indemnity and medico-legal risk management for twenty years. She has extensive experience of the legal and professional issues that arise in regulated professional practice through advising and representing doctors under investigation and through working with governments and healthcare organisations on policy issues. As Director of the National Clinical Assessment Service Stephanie initiated a programme of restructure and modernisation then moved into independent consultancy. 

Stephanie serves on the CEDR panel of accredited mediators and regularly mediates clinical negligence claims and other service industry disputes. She provides independent adjudication of complaints arising from the independent healthcare sector.

Edward Nally, President of the Tribunal congratulated Stephanie on her appointment and said: “I look forward to welcoming Stephanie into her new role as our Lay Vice President. She brings with her a wealth of experience and is already a much respected colleague through her work to date since she joined the SDT in 2015.I am confident her appointment will maintain the excellent assistance that the Board and Policy Committee provide to our Tribunal. “

Stephanie said, on hearing of her election:  “I feel very honoured to have been elected by SDT members. I am grateful to them for giving me the opportunity to make a greater contribution to the Tribunal’s important work and I look forward to fulfilling the responsibilities and expectations associated with the role.”