Biography
Jess is a Consultant in the Court of Protection team specialising in health and welfare applications and supports the team to provide the best possible advice to their clients.
Jess is an experienced solicitor with an extensive background of representing individuals who lack capacity (both on the instruction of the Official Solicitor and Independent Mental Capacity Advocates) in complex health and welfare proceedings before the Court of Protection. Jess is a specialist in issues concerning capacity and best interests, deprivation of liberty and wider community care and mental health law issues. Jess provides bespoke training for advocacy organisations who support adults with additional needs and has written and spoken for national organisations.
Prior to joining Ashfords, Jess was a Partner and head of the Court of Protection Health & Welfare team at Clarke Willmott LLP, managing a small team of lawyers who represented clients in cases in the Court of Protection concerning health and welfare decisions.
Jess sits as a Deputy District Judge in the Family and Civil jurisdictions and is a Law Society accredited practitioner for Mental Capacity (Welfare) work.
Jess is ranked in Chambers & Partners Legal Guide for her work as a Court of Protection Health & Welfare specialist and is recorded as a Next Generation Partner in the Legal 500 where she is praised for being "second to none for Health and Welfare work. She has a huge capacity to understand her clients and fights tooth and nail for them".
Jess is a Trustee for a charity, Team Domenica, that supports young people with Learning Disabilities into long term and sustainable paid employment.
Relevant experience
- Private client: Acting for four of the Applicants in RD & Others (Duties & Powers of Relevant Person’s Representatives and Section 39D IMCAs) [016] EWCOP 49 (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2016/49.html) on the instruction of three RPRs and s39 D IMCA’s in a case where Baker J (as he then was) gave helpful guidance as to when an application should be made by an RPR or s39D IMCA pursuant to s21A Mental Capacity Act 2005, seeking review of an individual’s
- Private client: Acting for P on the instruction of the Official Solicitor in an application concerning a dispute around his capacity to marry in DMM, Re (Alzheimer’s: marriage : power of attorney) [2017] EXCOP 33 (https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2017/33.html)
- Private client: Acting for P, a young man in his mid-twenties who had a brain injury, in an application by his financial deputy for decisions of the Court of Protection around his capacity to marry, consent to a pre-nuptial agreement and to know the value of his estate in PBM v TGT v Anor [2019] EWCOP 6 (https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCOP/2019/6.html)
- Private client: Acting for P, an elderly lady with mental ill health and an amputated leg as her Accredited Legal Representative, in an application made by the Local Authority about her wish to remain at home in the face of concerns about her and her family’s ability to care for her safely. Working closely with the family and lady to agree a plan for her future care that respected her wishes but maintained her safety and well-being.
- Private client: Acting for the mother of a young woman with a learning disability who was removed from her home in a dispute with the Local Authority. After extensive meetings and gathering evidence, the young woman was returned home with a comprehensive and supportive package of care.
- Care Provider: Advising a provider of community support services to Children & Young people on its obligations under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and a care home on its contractual terms relevant to the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
