Helen Bradley

Helen has nearly 20 years local government experience having worked in both district and unitary authorities. Initially specialising in criminal and civil litigation, all of Helen’s roles have included a focus on local authority governance, which reflects her interest in this area of expertise. She is politically astute and has successfully supported senior officers and members to navigate political change within authorities.

As National Lead for Monitoring Officers and Governance for Lawyers in Local Government, Helen is acutely aware of the challenges faced by Monitoring Officers across the sector and the need for strong local authority governance. She is currently working with a number of stakeholders to clarify the role of the Monitoring Officer, the requisite skills sets and how to develop aspiring Monitoring Officers. This work also involves looking at the lessons to be learned from public interest/governance reports, understanding why the traditional safeguards have not operated effectively and what can be done to strengthen those safeguards.

Helen believes that a good understanding of local authority governance from the outset was a key factor in her career progression. She is passionate about developing this knowledge with all local government lawyers and developing the Monitoring Officers of the future.