Disciplinary Conference 2020
Friday, 24th April

Ros has been a partner at the firm since May 2013, having joined from the public law team at DAC Beachcroft LLP in April 2012. She has developed her practice acting for regulatory and health clients. She trained in local government and spent 11 years working in house dealing with a wide range of local government and both contentious and non-contentious public law matters.

Ros has acted on a variety of threatened judicial reviews against the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Local Government Ombudsman and advises NHS England in relation to vires, judicial review and consultation and performers list matters.

Ros acts for all public services ombudsman and auditors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including the National Audit Office. She regularly advises the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority on public law and information law matters.

Ian Stern QC, Head of Chambers Regulatory team, is recommended as a ‘leader in the field’ by Chambers & Partners, an independent guide to the legal profession.

In 2014, Ian was named “Professional Discipline Silk of the Year” by Chambers & Partners.

Mark Stobbs is Director of Scrutiny and Quality at the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care. He leads the Authority’s work on reviewing the performance of the nine statutory health care regulators and in reviewing decisions of their fitness to practise panels. Recently, he led the Authority’s review of the Nursing and Midwifery Council’s handling of the concerns about midwives at Furness General Hospital.

He was Director of Legal Policy at the Law Society between 2008 and 2015. Before that he worked for the Bar Council and was the first Director of the Bar Standards Board, the regulatory arm of the Council.

Professor Mayson monitors and comments on developments in the legal services market, policy and regulation, ethics and training, and seeks to engage with government, regulators, professional bodies, practitioners and others.

In 2015, he chaired the review by the regulators of the Legal Services Act 2007 and related legislation to identify for the Ministry of Justice potential options for legislative change.

He is also the former director of the Legal Services Institute (a charitable think-tank originally established by The College of Law).

Professor Mayson is currently leading an independent review of the regulation of legal services in England & Wales.

Professor Roger Plank has held a number of prominent positions in both the steel construction sector and within the Institution of Structural Engineers, including as President in 2011. He joined the University of Sheffield in 1976, becoming Professor of Structural Engineering and Architecture in 1995. Roger established an internationally-renowned research group studying the behaviour of building structures in fire and he set up Vulcan Solutions to market associated modelling software. He retired from the University in 2010 but continues as a Director of Vulcan Solutions.

Roger joined the Engineering Council Board in 2013 to support the work of promoting the engineering profession and maintaining high standards. He is Chairman of the Privy Council and Governance Panel.

Ralph has for the past forty years acted principally, but not exclusively, for doctors and dentists in times of professional difficulty. This has included defending civil claims for medical negligence and dealing with criminal cases, ranging from murder and manslaughter to allegations of indecent assault and fraud on the NHS.

Ralph is Legal Assessor to the Disciplinary Board of the Institution of Structural Engineers.

Ralph has in recent years specialised in regulatory cases, regularly appearing before Fitness to Practice Panels of the General Medical Council and has acted for clinicians in many high profile cases including the Bristol Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Enquiry. Ralph has also acted for Pharmacists, Vets, and Social Workers before their respective Professional Disciplinary Bodies.