Roz is a Partner in our Disputes team, responsible for leading our public law teams.
Roz joins us from the Welsh Government, where, over the course of 18 years, she led the legal advice on numerous high profile, multifaceted projects across a range of policy areas with significant impact on society in Wales. She has extensive experience of:
- working with legislation; leading and advising on its preparation, drafting it, analysing it, and advising on its application.
- leading complex and sensitive advisory projects, including projects involving interventions in local government (both those relating to corporate governance and relating to senior officer or member conduct) and
- advising on legal risk arising from wide ranging administrative decisions and constitutional matters.
Most recently Roz was a Deputy Director of Legal Services in Welsh Government, senior legal adviser to the Welsh Ministers and responsible for leading the Welsh Government’s legal work related to Education, Local Government, Welsh Language, Culture, Sport and Tourism.
Expertise
- Public law, including:
- legal risk in public bodies’ decision making
- constitutional law
- administrative law, including judicial review
- public procurement
Recent work
Roz was involved in, or led on the following Welsh Government projects:
Advising on the preparation and content of Senedd Bills and overseeing their implementation, including:
- The Local Government (Finance) Wales Bill, which will make a significant contribution towards reforming non-domestic rates and council tax in Wales, making the framework more closely aligned with fluctuating market conditions and responsive to the evolving context for taxpayers and communities.
- The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021, which contained significant changes for local authorities in Wales, including introducing a new system for improving their performance and governance, changes to their governance framework, a new general power of competence, the establishment of corporate joint committees and extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year olds, and foreign citizens legally resident in Wales.
- The Renting Homes (Amendment) (Wales) Act 2021 which provided greater security for renters, the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, and part 4 of the groundbreaking Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
Leading the Welsh Government’s legal advice on:
- education related matters including teachers’ pay and regulation and equality issues within educational settings.
- local government related matters, including local government performance and intervention, and local government finance including council tax and non-domestic rates.
- issues flowing from the accommodation in Wales of refugees from Ukraine, and overseeing the production of related vital subordinate legislation.
- options to address wide ranging pandemic related situations within the housing and local government policy areas, and overseeing the urgent production of consequent subordinate legislation and
- A range of planning and building safety related matters, including local development plans and leaseholder support; and
Litigation, including:
- multi-party fire fighters’ pensions litigation in the Court of Appeal and
- judicial review.