Mental Health

Angela qualified as a solicitor in June 2009 and joined Duncan Lewis in January 2012. Angela has specialised in Mental Health law since 2005 and has been a member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal Panel since August 2010. Only Solicitors who meet the Law Society's exacting accreditation requirements are permitted to join the panel. Angela trained and qualified at Guile Nicholas Solicitors in London where she subsequently worked as a Mental Health Solicitor and supervised a dedicated team of caseworkers in the Mental Health department at the Kingston office. Alongside this work, whilst at Guile Nicholas Solicitors she also gained considerable experience in the areas of community care, welfare benefits, debt, housing and advising individuals about their rights under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Angela has considerable experience in advising and representing patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 and represents patients detained under civil sections and restricted patients in their appeals to the Mental Health Review Tribunal and Hospital Managers. At Duncan Lewis Solicitors, Angela supervises a team of dedicated caseworkers who provide advice and representation to patients detained in low secure, medium secure and high secure settings as well as those subject to community treatment orders or guardianship orders in the community. Angela has experience of Court of Protection proceedings. In particular, she advises vulnerable persons who lack capacity to make decisions for themselves regarding their welfare, residence, care and contact and by relatives of family members who lack capacity to make these decisions.

Prior to qualifying as a Solicitor, Angela was an anthropologist based at the School of Oriental & African Studies where she carried out research for her PhD. She also has past experience of working for at her local Citizen Advice Bureaux.