Dear Member,
Welcome to your new professional home. We hope you will find AMO to be a supportive family who has your interests at heart – front and centre! It’s early days but we are ambitious, and brave, embodying all facets that you display in your everyday practice.
I hope we can be of service and are here for you.
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any queries or suggestions you would like to make.
Rachel Mckoy
Executive Director - Association of Monitoring Officers
AMO is the new national professional voice and support network for Monitoring Officers, Deputy Monitoring Officers and aspiring Monitoring Officers aimed to promote excellence in local government governance.
The role of the Monitoring Officer isn’t for the faint hearted. It is challenging, exhausting, unrelenting, and often lonely. The increasing complexity and political instability in the local government space requires a unique skill set to undertake a role which has often not been given the prominence it requires. AMO signifies a change in the narrative to introduce some parity into the mix of other established statutory roles which have benefited from the investment and support of their respective statutory bodies.
In response, AMO has been created to address the need for a professional home and safe space for our Monitoring Officers, Deputy Monitoring Officers and aspiring Monitoring Officer family.
Acting as a professional voice it will champion the status of the Monitoring Officer role, actively work to influence national policy and legislative developments that impact upon it, and provide a platform to model good governance, ethical leadership, and statutory integrity.
Additionally, it will support and safeguard the interests of our membership by ensuring that the individuals who stand behind the title are provided with the professional development, peer learning, and active support to operate effectively and remain at the forefront of collective best practice.
Joining AMO will provide you with access to a range of membership benefits including:
AMO is planning to commence the roll out of the above benefits from January 2026 free of charge until 1st April 2026. After this date a reasonably priced subscription fee will be introduced to meet its operational costs.
You can apply for a non-obligatory free sign up to AMO today by clicking on the link below.
If you have any queries regarding membership or the services listed above please feel free to drop us a line on membership@llg.org.uk
AMO operates as both a professional membership organisation and as a committee of the board of the parent body (AMO Committee), Lawyers in Local Government (LLG) in the following way:
Currently a working group for the Professional Body has been driving the strategic development of AMO. The LLG Board has agreed upon the appointment of the members of the working group to form the Shadow Committee of the Association of Monitoring Officers, until the first elections take place at the LLG AGM in 2027.
Paul is the President of LLG. He is the Director of Legal and Assurance and Monitoring Officer at Essex County Council. He has spent the last 30 years working for all types of councils from Northumberland and Greater Manchester to the Eastern region (Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire); from a district with a population of 31,000 to Essex which has a population of 1.5m. He has been a monitoring officer or deputy since 2001. Paul has been a Chairman of the LLG Eastern Branch for three years and previously held the title for Regional Director Position for Eastern. Of his work at Branch level, Paul says “It’s been interesting and fun, and I’ve met so many people who are passionate about making a difference”.
Helen trained as a solicitor in Local Government and has nearly 20 years’ experience in working at both district and unitary level. Helen initially specialised in civil and criminal litigation, obtaining Higher Rights of audience in the criminal courts. Since becoming a Deputy Monitoring Officer and subsequently a Monitoring Officer, Helen has specialised in all aspects of local authority governance but has a particular interest in the Standards Regime.
Helen is the Director of Legal & Democratic Services, Durham County Council.
Anita Bradley is the Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer at Oxfordshire County Council, a position she has held since January 2021. With over 36 years of extensive legal experience, Anita has a varied career in both private practices, most recently as a partner in Browne Jacobson LLP and in local government settings.
Anita began her legal career in private practice, specialising in family law and litigation. She transitioned to local government having also worked in the charity sector, in 2001, where she has held various senior roles, including Head of Corporate Administration and Monitoring Officer at Mansfield District Council, Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer at Cheshire East Borough Council, and Head of Law and Governance at Oxford City Council. In her current role, Anita is a member of the Council’s Strategic Leadership Team and oversees a wide range of services including legal services, governance and information management. She also serves as the Monitoring Officer.
Anita's has a strong commitment to the local government family and is keen to develop diverse and inclusive networks and opportunities for all local authority lawyers and legal staff at all stages of their careers. In her Board position Anita is undertaking this work in the Southern Region and is keen to talk to all LLG members to understand how we can work together to meet the evolving needs of LLG members.
Patricia is the Monitoring Officer and Deputy Director of Legal and Democratic Services at the London Borough of Bexley, having previously worked in a number of local authorities including Mid Kent Legal Partnership, Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone District Councils as well as two other London Boroughs.
Patricia is particularly interested in engaging with lawyers and legal officers at all levels, ensuring development and mentoring opportunities and addressing staff recruitment and retention within the sector.
I specialise in local authorities’ corporate law and decision making. I joined my first local authority in 1988 as a trainee Chartered Secretary and then Solicitor. I was first made an authority’s Monitoring Officer and a member of the senior management team in 2000. Since then I have acted on governance, standards and monitoring officer issues for a wide range of local authorities, combined authorities and central government through both consultancy and direct employment.
One of my roles prior to joining Bevan Brittan was as Corporate Director for Law and Governance at Wirral MBC. I am also a past president of the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors (now LLG), where I was the national spokesperson on local authority powers and regulatory matters for several years.
I have led on a number of national projects on governance and standards, including:
I have extensive experience in constitutional matters and have advised on their drafting for a variety of local authorities, which has included leading on governance for the creation of the West of England CA and drafting the inaugural constitution for the Liverpool City Region CA. I have at various times chaired the national groupings on council constitutions (England), new committee system authorities and on parish council governance.
I am the current author of Knowles on Local Authority Meetings and am an editorial consultant and external author for the local authority governance areas of LexisNexis PSL.
I am also an examiner for the Law Society’s Diploma in Local Authority Law and Practice.
Alison is currently the Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer at the London Borough of Islington and has been the Monitoring Officer at previous London and District Councils.
She is also the Deputy Returning Officer Council and Deputy SIRO at Islington Council.
Alison has a strong and substantial track record and commitment of governance models having worked in differing local authorities managing legal, democratic, electoral and information governance requirements successfully at a high level.
Alison understands the intricacies and sensitivities of implementing change and finding solutions, utilising her skills in differing Councils with acute strategic leadership and awareness working on many complex and high-profile matters.
She has a project driven; solution focused approach satisfying corporate and service values and initiatives and won the inaugural Lawyer in Local Government Award in 2014.
Alison's experience of managing across different political spheres provides an acute evaluation and acknowledgement of political austereness and reputational considerations.
The AMO Committee shall consist of 10 members:
