Dr Lucy Series
Lecturer
- Media commentator
Overview
I am a lecturer in law and Wellcome Trust Society and Ethics Research Fellow at the School of Law and Politics. I am interested in how the law shapes and structures caregiving relationships with adults with mental disabilities. My research particularly focuses on questions of legal capacity, adult social care law and disability rights. I have particular expertise on the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the deprivation of liberty safeguards, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I use a range of qualitative and quantitative socio-legal research methods, and am interested in inclusive methods for public engagement with people directly affected by mental capacity, social care and disability law.
My current research project, funded by Wellcome, looks a 'problems of empowerment' under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. It uses genealogical methods to explore the Act's evolving relationship with the concept of empowerment, to help understand current critiques of the Act as failing to live up to its much vaunted 'empowering ethos'. I am currently writing a monograph exploring this historical and global context of a Supreme Court decision which ruled that hundreds of thousands of people living in 'community care' settings are deprived of their liberty.
Prior to my fellowship I worked with Professor Phil Fennell, Dr Julie Doughty and Professor Luke Clements on a project funded by th Nuffield Foundation looking at welfare cases in the Court of Protection. I have also worked at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at NUI Galway. I hold a PhD in law from Exeter University, a BA in Psychology and Philosophy (Oxford University) and a MSc in Psychology Research Methods (Bristol University). Prior to my PhD in law, I worked in a range of roles in health and social care.
I write a blog about my research, The Small Places. My research on the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the Court of Protection and disability rights has featured in the national media, and I am available for comment on these issues.
Biography
Publications
2020
- Series, L. 2020. Making sense of Cheshire West. In: Spivakovsky, C., Steele, L. and Weller, P. eds. The Legacies of Institutionalisation: Disability, Law and Policy in the 'Deinstitutionalised' Community. Oñati International Series in Law and Society Hart
- Series, L. 2020. The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 (UK) [Comment]. Elder Law Review 12
2019
- Jones, R., Series, L. and Dehaghani, R. 2019. International covenant on civil and political rights: conditions of detention In Wales. Technical Report.
- Series, L. 2019. Disability and human rights. In: Watson, N. and Vehmas, S. eds. Routledge Handbook of Disability Studies: Second Edition. Routledge, pp. 72-88.
- Harrington, J., Series, L. and Ruck-Keene, A. 2019. Law and rhetoric: Critical possibilities. Journal of Law and Society 46(2), pp. 302-327. (10.1111/jols.12156)
- Series, L. 2019. On detaining 300,000 people: the liberty protection safeguards. International Journal of Mental Health and Capacity Law 25, pp. 82-123.
2018
- Series, L. and Nilsson, A. 2018. Article 12 CRPD: Equal recognition before the law. In: Bantekas, I., Stein, M. A. and Anastasiou, D. eds. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: A Commentary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 339-382.
2017
- Series, L., Fennell, P. and Doughty, J. 2017. Welfare cases in the Court of Protection: A statistical overview. Project Report. Cardiff: Cardiff University, School of Law and Politics.
- Series, L., Fennell, P. and Doughty, J. 2017. The participation of P in welfare cases in the court of protection. Project Report. Cardiff: Cardiff University.
- Series, L., Arstein-Kerslake, A. and Kamundia, E. 2017. Legal capacity: a global analysis of reform trends. In: Blanck, P. and Flynn, E. eds. Routledge Handbook of Disability Law and Human Rights. London: Routledge, pp. 137-155.
- Kakoullis, E., Series, L. and Tarrant, A. 2017. Comments on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Draft General Comment No. 5 (2017) Article 19 CRPD: Living independently and being included in the community. Documentation. United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner. Available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/WSArticle19.aspx
2016
- Series, L. 2016. The place of wishes and feelings in best interests decisions: Wye Valley NHS Trust v Mr B. The Modern Law Review 79(6), pp. 1101-1115. (10.1111/1468-2230.12233)
2015
- Series, L. 2015. The development of disability rights under international law: from charity to human rights [Book Review]. Disability & Society 30(10), pp. 1590-1590. (10.1080/09687599.2015.1066975)
- Series, L. 2015. Relationships, autonomy and legal capacity: Mental capacity and support paradigms. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 40, pp. 80-91. (10.1016/j.ijlp.2015.04.010)
- Series, L.et al. 2015. Transparency in the Court of Protection. Technical Report.
- Series, L.et al. 2015. Local authorities and the Court of Protection's welfare jurisdiction in 2013–14. Elder Law 5(1), pp. 114.
- Series, L. 2015. The use of legal capacity legislation to control the sexuality of people with intellectual disabilities. In: Shakespeare, T. ed. Disability Research Today: International Perspectives. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, pp. 149-165.
- Series, L.et al. 2015. Use of the Court of Protection's welfare jurisdiction by supervisory bodies in England and Wales. Cardiff: Cardiff Law School. Available at: http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/wccop/research-report-on-local-authorities-use-of-the-court-of-protection/
- Clements, L.et al. 2015. Transparency in the Court of Protection: report on a Roundtable. Project Report. [Online]. Cardiff: Cardiff University. Available at: http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/wccop/files/2015/04/Transparency-in-the-Court-of-Protection-Report.pdf
- Series, L. 2015. Legal capacity and participation in litigation: recent developments in the European Court of Human Rights. European Yearbook of Disability Law, pp. 132-128.
- Series, L. 2015. The participation of the relevant person in proceedings in the Court of Protection: A briefing paper on international human rights requirements. Technical Report.
2014
- Series, L. 2014. Resource allocation systems: complex and counterproductive?. In: Needham, C. and Glasby, J. eds. Debates in Personaliation. Policy Press, pp. 37-44.
- Series, L. 2014. Sex, capacity and forensic cotton wool: IM v LM [2014] EWCA Civ 37. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 36(3), pp. 317-319. (10.1080/09649069.2014.933594)
- Series, L. 2014. Comparing old and new paradigms of legal capacity. Elder Law Journal 4(1), pp. 62.
2013
- Series, L. and Clements, L. 2013. Putting the cart before the horse: resource allocation systems and community care. Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law 35(2), pp. 207-226. (10.1080/09649069.2013.800288)
2012
- Series, L. 2012. Applications for permission to the Court of Protection: a statistical analysis. Elder Law Journal 2(2), pp. 175-184.
Teaching
I currently teach on specialist masters programs concerning health and social care law. I co-lead two modules on Consent to Treatment and contribute to courses on Social Care Law. I have also taught Tort law.
Supervision
I supervise PhD students in law and on social work doctoral programs, on topics including mental capacity, disability rights and social care law.
