Alex Ruck Keene

At: 39 Essex Chambers and The Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN)

Alex Ruck Keene is an experienced barrister, writer and educator. His practice (at 39 Essex Chambers) is focused on mental capacity law (broadly defined). He has appeared in cases involving the Mental Capacity Act 2005 at all levels up to and including the Supreme Court. He also writes extensively in the field, editing and contributing to leading textbooks and (amongst many other publications) the 39 Essex Chambers Mental Capacity Law Newsletter, the ‘bible’ for solicitors (and others) working in the area.

He is the creator of the website www.mentalcapacitylawandpolicy.org.uk, providing resources and expert commentary on some of the most difficult mental capacity issues.

Alex is a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Institute, a Visiting Lecturer at the Dickson Poon School of Law, and a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at King’s College London, working on the collaborative Mental Health and Justice project for the period 2017-2022. He spent from November 2016 to March 2017 on secondment to the Law Commission as a consultant to their Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty Project, and 2018 as legal adviser to the independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983.