After founding a law firm, swimming the Hellespont and serving as president of the Law Society, Obiter’s old friend Lucy Scott-Moncrieff CBE is taking up a new challenge. This time it is making sure that peers of the realm stick to the rules when it comes to expenses and use of parliamentary facilities.

Scott-Moncrieff takes up her position this month as House of Lords Commissioner for Standards. According to the Lords, the commissioner ‘is responsible for the independent and impartial investigation of alleged breaches of the House of Lords Code of Conduct’. The post was created in 2010.

She tells Obiter: ‘The job is part-time, so I will be able to keep on with a number of my voluntary roles, including my Law Society involvement – my term as chair of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee is to be extended by another three years. I will also remain as co-chair of the International Bar Association’s Access to Justice and Legal Aid Committee until the end of next year; the committee is working with the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law on a survey of access to justice and children, with a report due to be published in September.’

We hope the noble lords don’t take up too much of her time.

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