Sophy practices in all aspects of mental health and disability law, with a focus on cases in the Court of Protection and the inherent jurisdiction, inquests and inquiries.
Year of Call: March 2015
Sophy qualified as a solicitor in 1989. She was a founding partner at award-winning firm Miles and Partners LLP where she led the mental health and capacity team for 16 years, before becoming a consultant in 2012.
Sophy’s busy Court of Protection practice includes personal welfare, international adult protection, medical treatment and property cases, as well as challenges against deprivation of liberty authorisations. She acts for vulnerable adults, children, their families, local authorities and NHS bodies. She has appeared in inherent jurisdiction cases involving medical treatment, forced marriage and FGM. Sophy appeared in N v ACCG [2017] UKSC 22 (led by Doughty Street’s Aswini Weereratne QC), where the Supreme Court considered the role and powers of the Court of Protection.
Sophy advises in all areas of mental health law, where her long experience as a mental health solicitor gives her a practical understanding of the issues. She acts in appeals to the Upper Tribunal, and displacement of nearest relative applications. In Welsh Minsters v PJ [2018] UKSC 66: Sophy was led by DSC’s Aswini Weereratne QC alongside Gemma Daly, appearing for Mind as intervenor. Mind supported PJ’s successful argument that conditions attached to a community treatment order (“CTO”) cannot lawfully deprive a person of his or her liberty
Sophy regularly advises on public law challenges to decision-making under the Care Act, particularly in cases concerning vulnerable prisoners as well as disputes on entitlement to aftercare.
Sophy undertakes civil actions under the Human Rights Act, and has acted for NGOs in interventions in Strasbourg applications in relation to Article 5.
Sophy represents bereaved families in inquests, often those which arise from deaths in psychiatric or social care settings, and advises in related civil claims.
She is an accredited mediator (Regent’s University London)