Lucy Scott-Moncrieff

Lucy was a founding member and director of Edge. She retired as a director in 2015. She has been a legal aid lawyer for over 30 years specialising primarily in mental health and human rights. 

She has been involved in legal education for many years including teaching on the course leading to accreditation for the Law Society’s MHT panel. She has been a Law Society Council member since 2002, was its President between July 12 and July 13 and is now Chair of its Equality and Diversity Committee. She is the Co-Chair of the Legal Aid and Access to Justice Committee of the International Bar Association. She sits as a Mental Health Tribunal judge. 

Lucy has been a Mental Health Act Commissioner, was a founder member of the QC Appointments Panel, was a commissioner with Postcomm from 2008 to 2011, and is an associate with Verita, which carries out investigations on behalf of public bodies. In 2011 she won the Association of Women Solicitors’ award for best manager of a legal aid practice. In 2005 she won the Mental Health Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award. 

Many of her cases, taken by way of judicial review, including those before the ECtHR, have been reported over the years. One of her clients was the first person to obtain a declaration of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act. The resulting remedial order altered the discharge criteria affecting all those detained under the Mental Health Act