Ella Anderson

District Judge

Topic: TBC

Ella is a District Judge sitting at Bradford Combined Court Centre and is a nominated judge of the Court of Protection. She has been hearing such cases since January 2023, prior to which she sat as a Judge of the First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health).

Before her full-time appointment, Ella was a barrister specialising in COP work, appearing in a wide range of cases including contested capacity, overlapping criminal investigations, deprivation of liberty in various settings, and the inherent jurisdiction. 

Christine Hutchinson

Independent Consultant Nurse Approved Clinician and Honorary Clinical Associate Professor – Edge Hill University

Topic: Experiences as a professional Court appointed Personal Welfare Deputy

Christine is a learning disability nurse with more than 40 years' experience across hospital, community and higher education settings. She has provided strategic leadership on the Mental Capacity Act, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and Mental Health Act, including as the Department of Health North West DoLS implementation lead.

Her expertise includes supporting people with learning disabilities, behavioural challenges, forensic risks and co-existing mental disorders. Christine is a Best Interests Assessor, independent nurse prescriber, Mental Health Act Approved Clinician and Special Visitor to the Office of the Public Guardian. She has been an Expert Witness for over 12 years and a Personal Welfare Deputy for over two years, appointed by the Court to bring lengthy contested proceedings to an end.

Dr Faisal Parvez

Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist, Special Medical Visitor to the Court of Protection and Office of the Public Guardian, and Independent Expert - Pennine Care NHS

Topic TBC

Dr Parvez is a consultant psychiatrist at Pennine Care NHS.

He is also a Special Medical Visitor to the Court of Protection and Office of the Public Guardian appointed approximately a decade ago. He has extensive experience in the assessment of mental capacity and regularly reports as an independent expert.

Dr Parvez is widely involved in education in the field of mental capacity and has presented on several topics relating to the assessment of mental capacity. He has hosted, chaired, and presented at several capacity related seminars and conferences including for the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is privileged to be a regular presenter at the annual judicial college induction for newly appointed judges to the court of protection.

Pippa Pudney

Barrister - Court of Protection - Serjeants’ Inn

Topic TBC

Pippa is a Court of Protection barrister at Serjeants’ Inn, London (although she remains based in the north!), specialising in health and welfare cases.

She has an expertise in deprivation of liberty issues, particularly in relation to children and young people, and co-authored a book on the topic with Bloomsbury in October 2024. She retains an editorial role for the MCA 2005 chapter of Butterworths Family Law Service, Lexis Nexis. She has a keen interest in how the Court of Protection engages with individual human rights issues, and the developing jurisprudence on rebutting the presumption of capacity.

Emily Reed

Barrister - Park Square Barristers

Topic: Assessing capacity: the role of fact finding and relevance of coercion and control - with Natalia Perrett

Emily is the head of the Court of Protection and Adult Care Team at Park Square Barristers in Leeds.

Emily has been a specialist in complex welfare proceedings since commencing her practice at the Bar in 2013, renowned for her empathetic yet forensic approach. She has a particular expertise in cases concerning children and young adults and proceedings brought with respect to vulnerable adults under the inherent jurisdiction. She was recently instructed alongside Natalia Perrett for JW in SW v Nottingham City Council & Another [2025] EWCOP 53 (T3) and Nottinghamshire County Council v JW & Another [2026] EWCOP 13 (T2). Emily is also a family law specialist, with a busy public law practice.

Natalia Perrett

Barrister, COP & Family Law - Park Square Barristers

Topic: Assessing capacity: the role of fact finding and relevance of coercion and control - with Emily Reed

Natalia Perrett is an accomplished Court of Protection practitioner and Joint Head of the Park Square Barristers’ Family Team.

Natalia regularly appears in cases involving complex capacity and welfare decisions and deprivation of liberty matters and is routinely instructed by all protagonists. Natalia’s instructions include providing advice and advocacy at High Court level. Her recently reported cases include Nottinghamshire County Council v JW and SW [2026] EWCOP 13 (T2) and SW v Nottingham City Council & Anor [2025] EWCOP 53 (T3).

Jonathan Bellamy

Barrister - St John’s Buildings

Topic: The AGNI judgment and updates post judgment

Jonathan was called to the bar in 2008 and is a barrister at St John’s Buildings.

Jonathan predominantly practices in the Court of Protection where he is consistently ranked as a leading junior noted for his expert handling of health and welfare cases, including those involving a deprivation of liberty. He is described by colleagues as ‘cool, calm and collected’.

Jonathan also sits as a Recorder in the Family Court, a nominated judge of the Court of Protection (Tier 2), and a judge of the First Tier Mental Health Tribunal.