Mental Health Review Tribunal Panel

Mental Health Review Tribunals are independent judicial bodies that operate under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983. Their main function is to review the cases of compulsorily detained patients & decide whether or not such patients can be discharged. The Mental Health Review Tribunal has the responsibility of hearing applications or references concerning people detained under the Mental Health Act. The Tribunal members are appointed by the Department of Constitutional Affairs.

There are three Mental Health Review Tribunal offices to cover England and Wales. The Southern region covers the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Essex and all of England to the south and south west of those counties. The Northern Region covers all other areas of England.

Based in Leeds we are ideally situated to service the various establishments in the Northern Region but we also travel throughout the UK to assist clients.

This is a unique area of law which requires cross disciplinary knowledge and experience. To connect people with the legal advice they need, the Law Society established the Mental Health Review Tribunal Panel.

Solicitors and solicitors' employees who are on this panel can advise and represent patients who have been detained under the Mental Health Act at tribunal hearings.

Many members of the panel are also able to offer legal advice and assistance in other related areas of the law affecting mental illness and incapacitated persons.

Only legal practitioners who meet the Law Society's strict requirements are permitted to join the panel.

When you see the Mental Health Review Tribunal Panel logo, seen opposite, you can be assured that the practitioner's skills, knowledge and experience have been rigorously and independently assessed by the Law Society.

David Ake & Co has two partners within the firm who are members of that panel. Both are also very experienced in Criminal Defence work & in addition Theresa Clark has higher rights of audience.

Many people who find themselves as a defendant in the Criminal Justice System also have some form of mental illness or disorder. Likewise, & it follows logically, many who find themselves in the Prison Estate have issues of this nature. Our combined experience in Mental Health, Criminal Defence and Prison Law is often of considerable benefit to the client.