Morag Ellis KC is widely recognised as a leading expert in planning and local government law in England and Wales, with a wide ranging practice covering all aspects of development.
She is consistently praised in the Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 Guides and the Planning Magazine Survey of barristers.
Morag is a member of the Silks’ Panel to the Welsh Government and a past Chairman of the Planning and Environment Bar Association. She gave evidence to the Parliamentary Select Committee on the National Policy Statement on Ports and the Welsh Government Senedd on the review of TAN 8 (Renewable Energy) and the Planning Law (Wales) Act 2015 and served as a member of the Interim Planning Advisory Group advising the Welsh Minister on changing culture in Welsh Planning.
In June 2020, Morag was appointed as the Dean of the Arches and Auditor and Master of Faculties. As such, she is the senior ecclesiastical judge in England and the statutory regulator, under the Legal Services Act 2007 of Notaries in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and parts of the Commonwealth. As an ex officio member of the General Synod of the Church of England and a member of its Rule Committee, Morag is involved in the preparation and promotion of primary and secondary legislation. She is also a member of the Legal Advisory Commission to General Synod, preparing opinions on current issues of ecclesiastical law. The judicial appointment is part time, so she remains available for instructions generally, although she can no longer receive instructions in ecclesiastical matters involving the faculty jurisdiction or clergy discipline in England.
In 2019, she was appointed as the KC Church Commissioner and represents the Commissioners on the National Safeguarding Steering Group as well as sitting on the Mission and Pastoral and Church Property Committee, a quasi judicial body which adjudicates on parish reorganisation and church property disputes.
Morag is currently studying for the Cardiff University LLM in Canon Law.