Adam Sampson was appointed Chief Ombudsman and Chief Executive of the Office for Legal Complaints in April 2009 and formally started work when the OLC gained legal status on 1 July. He is managing the set up of the Legal Ombudsman and acting as Chief Ombudsman when it comes into being.
The executive managment team and ombudsmen have been appointed and are now the core of the team who are setting up the Legal Ombudsman. You can read more about each of them below. Our ombudsman team are appointed by our Board under the Legal Services Act 2007.
Adam has had a distinguished career in the public and voluntary sectors. Following a period as Junior Dean at Brasenose College, Oxford, he worked as a probation officer in London until being appointed Deputy Director of the Prison Reform Trust in 1989.
Adam joined the Home Office as Assistant Prisons Ombudsman in 1994, returning to the voluntary sector as Chief Executive of national drugs charity RAPt from 1997-2002. Immediately prior to joining the OLC, Adam spent seven years as Chief Executive of Shelter, the country’s leading housing and homelessness charity, where he broadcast and campaigned vigorously on housing and broader social policy issues.
He has been a member of various Government Task Forces, and is on the Board of a number of non-Governmental bodies, including Chairing a new housing social enterprise and acting as a Commissioner on the UK Drugs Policy Commission.
Liz’s track record is in working with major organisations to deliver significant change. She is an experienced operational manager, having started her career with ICI where she held a series of management roles and was one of the first women to hold line management responsibility in the manufacturing and operations environment.
After obtaining an MsC from Cranfield School of Business, Liz joined Gemini Consulting where she worked as a consultant and delivery manager including a time as the overall Global Leader for the Supply Chain Centre of Excellence. Liz was widely recognised for her leadership in supply chain methods and process management. She later joined a global technology services provider as Transformation Director.
Liz has lived and worked in the USA and across Europe and managed staff in Asia and Australia. Recently she has taken up the challenge of transferring her experience from the manufacturing sector into other arenas. In the last two years she worked with a major UK charity to improve their delivery of legal advice and legal aid contracts.
Liz joined the Legal Ombudsman in its early days. She is currently acting as Programme Director for the set up of the ombudsman scheme and will continue to do so until she formally takes up post as Director of Operations.
Gary is a barrister called to the Bar in 1989. He joined the Crown Prosecution Service and served as a member of the International Branch. After this he was seconded to the UN in Kosovo as a prosecutor. He then was a trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
Previously, Gary was an elected member of the Bar Council, serving on the Professional Conduct and Law Reform Committees. In 2000 Gary was appointed an Asylum Support Adjudicator and then in 2003, he was appointed a Commissioner of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, responsible for the northeast, HMRC and the SOCA.
Gary is also a visiting lecturer, qualified trainer, mediator and a deputy district court Judge.
Alison started out as a lawyer and worked as a Judge’s Associate before joining the public service in Australia. She has experience of immigration policy and operations as well as experience in transport and gambling regulation, health and competition policy from working with the Cabinet Office.
Alison left Australia in 2003 moving to Bangladesh where she worked first with a national disability rights organisation, helping with their communications and advocacy. She then worked with a national women lawyers’ association evaluating a domestic violence prevention project.
In 2006 Alison arrived in England and subsequently joined the Legal Complaints Service (LCS). She has been part of the interim set up team for the Legal Ombudsman since May 2009 using her experience to lead on developing the business process and fostering our relationships with stakeholders.
Most recently, Robert was Director of Finance and Operations at League Football Education, where he was instrumental in creating one of the leading work based learning organisations in the country, on behalf of the Football League and the Professional Footballers Association. Prior to that Robert helped to create a place marketing organisation in Chester. This followed a career in NHS finance that had culminated in the role of Finance Director at Lancashire Ambulance Service.
Robert brings a wealth of experience from across both the public and private sectors and the ability to build relationships with external partners and internally drive performance. He is looking forward to the challenge of developing a high performing ombudsman scheme and of ensuring the expectations of the public and the legal profession are met.
Carol has over 20 years experience in delivering consumer services. Most recently she was Director for Service Improvement at the Local Better Regulation Office. Before that she was National Operations Manager for Consumer Direct and was a Trading Standards Manager in local authorities in Kent, Northamptonshire and Solihull.
She is a Fellow of the Trading Standards Institute.
Cerys is a qualified solicitor with experience in private practice, local government and the voluntary sector. After joining the Law Society in 1997, Cerys became Head of the Office of the Independent Commissioner a role focused on Government reforms to legal services regulation. She is currently an adjudicator for the Legal Complaints Service and a technical adviser for the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Cerys brings important knowledge of complaints and regulation to the Legal Ombudsman.
Cerys is also a lay member and Chair of the General Dental Council investigating committee and was formerly a lay member and Chair of the Dental Complaints Service. She has been a member of British & Irish Ombudsman Association since 2003.
A qualified barrister, Charlie was appointed as the inaugural Deputy Pensions Ombudsman in 2005 - dealing with complaints and disputes about occupational and personal pensions - a post he held for four and a half years. Prior to that, having spent many years as a senior Inspector of Taxes, he was head of the Adjudicator's Office for five and a half years, investigating complaints about the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise (now HMRC).
John is an experienced investigator and customer services manager. Since 2005 he has been with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) first as a Deputy Senior Investigator and then managing casework and customer services. Most recently his role at IPCC focused on organisational planning and change management.
John studied Business at Leeds Metro University. Earlier in his career he investigated serious drugs importations and commercial fraud for the then HM Customs and Excise.
Silas is a solicitor with experience in the private and public sector. He is a dispute resolution specialist who has been involved in many high profile cases. He is workplace mediator trained by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.