Biography

Lesley specialises in public and commercial law with an emphasis on human rights, EU and equalities law and she has a particular interest in the public sector equality duty.

She is currently instructed as junior counsel for the Scottish Government in the challenge to the minimum pricing legislation before the CJEU, and for the petitioner in the first challenge to a planning decision of a Local Review Body. Her substantial judicial review practice includes recent challenges to the immigration rules on domestic violence, and a successful reclaiming motion in relation to the statutory interpretation of transitional provisions disapplying the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Lesley was junior counsel for the local authority in the FAI into the death of Declan Hainey. She advises on state aid and other EU/civil matters and appears regularly in the Court of Session, including in the commercial court. Lesley was the Lord Reid Scholar for 2011/12.