Our Team
Kirsty Thomson Managing Partner / Director
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/kirsty-thomson-4068b6145/
Kirsty is a co-founding Managing Partner / Director, responsible for overall management and development of our organisation. She also leads our Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC) and our Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre (SATEC).
Kirsty has an LLM in International Human Rights Law and 13 years’ experience in practice as a human rights lawyer within Scotland. During this time, she managed a specialist legal service within a national law centre where she developed a collaborative human rights based approach working in the area of women’s rights, children’s rights and asylum/immigration law.
Kirsty has experience of designing, implementing and managing innovative legal projects. She has worked with legal and non-legal partners at a national and international level in order to pilot and deliver legal services more effectively.
Kirsty is a member of various advisory and working groups in human rights law. She is a legal expert in human trafficking and has published best practice standards, training and written publications in this area. She co-convenes the Scottish Working Group of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association and is the Scottish member for the Strategic Litigation Fund expert panel.
Lyndsay Monaghan Associate Solicitor
Lyndsay is an Associate Solicitor in our Scottish Women’s Rights Centre. She completed her traineeship within a private practice firm, with a strong focus on family law and civil court work.
As a law student at the University of Strathclyde in 2015, she was one of the first student volunteers at the Law Clinic for the Scottish Women’s Rights Centre (SWRC), assisting with the SWRC helpline and casework. She undertook a summer internship with the SWRC and continued to volunteer on the helpline throughout her traineeship and post qualification. She was appointed Co-Student Director of the Law Clinic from 2015-2016. Lyndsay works in the SWRC, providing advice, information and representation to women who have experienced gender based violence through our helpline, surgery and legal casework, as well as delivering training and awareness raising events.
Hanan El-Atrash Trainee Solicitor
Hanan is a Trainee Solicitor in our Scottish Women’s Rights Centre.
Hanan is a graduate of the University of Glasgow (LLB Honours) and the University of Strathclyde (Diploma in Professional Legal Practice). She has experience working as a caseworker at a national law centre and at the University of Strathclyde Law Clinic within the Immigration Unit, where she was Immigration Unit Coordinator throughout her studies at the University of Strathclyde.
As part of her role, Hanan was involved in assisting to prepare fresh claims for asylum for people seeking asylum whose appeal rights had been exhausted. She was also involved in setting up and delivering a Public Legal Education project for asylum seekers and refugees living in Glasgow with a team of law students. Hanan has also worked as a Destitution Adviser at the Scottish Refugee Council as part of the Destitute Asylum Seeker Service, providing support and advocacy to destitute asylum seekers.
Jan McCaig Caseworker
Jan joined JRS as an intern in Feb 2020 and is now a Caseworker in our Scottish Women’s Rights Centre.
Jan is a law student at Robert Gordon University and a graduate of Edinburgh University (LLM International Law) and Sussex University (BaHons International Relations). She has experience working as a caseworker in the areas of asylum, immigration and human rights law. She worked with survivors of gender-based violence & human trafficking and unaccompanied detained minors at the Cabrini Centre for Immigrant Legal Assistance in the USA, where she undertook accreditation to become a Department of Justice Representative. Alongside her case work, Jan delivered legal education in detention facilities.
Jan also worked for 5 years as a lecturer in international law in Mexico whilst working on collaborative research projects with the State Human Rights Commission. In Mexico, she also volunteered with survivors of human trafficking & gender-based violence at a refuge.
Constance Trepanier Administrator & Caseworker
Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/constance-tr%C3%A9panier-52348511a
Constance is an Administrator and Caseworker in our Scottish Women’s Rights Centre, on the ROSA project.
She is a recent graduate of the University of Edinburgh (LLM Human Rights), following the completion of a first Master’s in Security Studies at the University College of London (UCL). After having initially focused academically on international relations, she decided to specialise in international and European human rights law. She is particularly interested in migration and asylum issues, as well as women’s rights and their protection from gender-based violence at work and in education.
She has experience working with displaced persons and asylum-seekers in Canada, France and Belgium through various organisations. This interest brought her to the EU institutions where she worked at the European Commission and the European Parliament on EU asylum policies and on amending legislative proposals to reflect a human rights-based approach. She also conducted advocacy work with the International Rescue Committee towards the EU institutions.
Constance also works as a Tutor in EU Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Edinburgh.
Megan Lafferty Legal Consultant
Megan’s work had a focus in historic abuse claims and healthcare defence. She has worked on some of the largest, high profile litigations in Scotland. Megan has experience handling cases in the Sheriff Courts and Court of Session, including appeals and judicial reviews. She also has experience in regulatory matters, representing individuals before their professional regulators. She has also represented clients in public inquiries and is used to dealing with extremely sensitive cases.
Megan’s interest in human rights stems back to her time at University, where she wrote her dissertation on the issue of reproductive rights and a decision of the European Court of Human Rights.
Megan is currently an Associate at PGMBG.