Marcella has worked in the legal profession for over 40 years. Having worked in private practice Marcella moved to work at the award-winning Brighton and Hove City Council legal service in 2018, initially in public law safeguarding proceedings. Like all councils BHCC saw an exponential growth in our housing disrepair claims . Since 2024 Marcella has worked solely within the housing disrepair field and in 2025 was appointed Senior lawyer to manage the disrepair claims. In that role Marcella has set up new systems, streamlining the work both for the legal team but also the client department to improve services for the tenants. Marcella continues to assist the clients with strengthening their internal complaints procedure to deal with HDR matters. Marcella has also streamlined the systems for electrical access injunctions. Marcella is interested in how we can work to reduce the need for claims, and reduce and challenge unnecessary litigation, costs and time elapsing before claims are resolved to the benefit of the tenants. The role has been challenging but also exciting to see the development of the law in this area, and Marcella believes that progress can be made by a council housing department to the benefit to the tenants when there is a shared purpose .
