Chief executive and office holders
President – John Wotton
Vice president – Lucy Scott-Moncrieff
Deputy vice president – Nick Fluck
Chief executive – Des Hudson
President – John Wotton
John Wotton has represented the EU Matters constituency on the Law Society's Council since 2007. He is also an ex officio member of the Legal Affairs and Policy Board, the Management Board, the Membership Board and the Regulatory Affairs Board of the Law Society, and chaired the Society's EU Committee.
John is a consultant to the Antitrust Practice at Allen & Overy. He was a partner from 1984 to 2007, heading the UK Antitrust Group and the Public Procurement Group. He has advised clients on many important cases before the UK competition authorities and the European Commission. He is closely involved in the media sector, with a focus on regulation and judicial review. In utilities, energy and transport, his work has focused mainly on the water, oil, gas and rail industries.
John became a member of the Co-operation and Competition Panel for NHS-funded Services, on its establishment by the Department of Health in 2009. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Competition Law Forum of BIICL.
John has been on the Law Society's Council since September 2007 and became president at the AGM on 14 July 2011.
Vice president – Lucy Scott-Moncrieff
Mental health and human rights lawyer Lucy Scott-Moncrieff is the managing partner of Scott-Moncrieff and Associates LLP, a virtual law firm with a national reach acting for legally aided and privately paying clients. The firm specialises in representing detained patients, life sentence prisoners and vulnerable children and young people.
Lucy was elected to the Law Society Council in the summer of 2002, and before that maintained a long connection with the Law Society through her membership of the Mental Health and Disability Committee which she joined in 1986. After joining Council Lucy became a member of the Society's Regulatory Affairs Board, Access to Justice Committee and Education and Training committee.
Lucy sits as a Mental Health Tribunal judge and provides training for those applying for membership of the Law Society's Mental Health Panel. In 2005 she won the Mental Health Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year award. She is acknowledged as a leader in her field in the Chambers Directory and the Legal 500 and many of her cases, including those before the ECtHR have been reported over the years. One of her clients was the first person to obtain a declaration of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act. The resulting remedial order altered the discharge criteria affecting all those detained under the Mental Health Act.
Lucy was a founder member of the QC Appointments Panel, was a commissioner with Postcomm from 2008 to 2011, and is an associate with Verita, which carries out investigations on behalf of public bodies. She is also director of two management and training companies.
In 2011 she won the Association of Women Solicitors' award for best manager of a legal aid practice
Deputy vice president - Nick Fluck
Nick is a partner in Stapleton & Son, a two-partner traditional general practice and High Street firm, in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
Nick was elected to the Law Society Council in 2005, to the Commercial Property constituency and also serves on the Management Board, Conveyancing and Land Law Committee, Property Section executive and is currently the chair of the Technology and Law Reference Group.
Nick was elected as deputy vice president of the Law Society on 12 April 2011.
Chief executive – Des Hudson
Des Hudson was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, and graduated in law from the University of Leeds in 1977. He qualified as a solicitor in 1980 and worked in private practice until 1987. During that time he became a salaried partner in a major provincial law firm in the north west of England, specialising in crime and child protection work.
In 1987 Des joined the Yorkshire Building Society as an assistant solicitor and held a number of positions during five years there. In 1992 he took up the post of head of lending at the Britannia Building Society. In 1995 he became operations director of Britannia Life, and in the following year he was made managing director.
In 1998 Des joined SMG (Scottish Media Group) to become chief executive of their publishing division and was appointed a director of SMG plc in 1999.
Des joined the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland in September 2004 as chief executive designate, subsequently becoming chief executive.
On 4 September 2006 Des took up the position of chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales.
He is married with three children.