Monique Lambie

Job Title: Enforcement Solicitor

Department: Legal & Administrative Services

Monique is an Enforcement Solicitor in the Legal and Administrative Services Department of the Council, a post she has held since she qualified as a solicitor. Before that Monique worked in Trading Standards and has notched up over 10 years as an employee at Westminster.

Her main area of work is spent tackling anti-social behaviour, whether that involves delinquent youths on housing estates or aggressive street homeless persons who torment the general public. She also takes legal action against persistent offenders such as beggars and unlicensed street traders and deals with a range of other nuisance areas such as flyposting and noise nuisance. With the advent of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 there are a whole range of powers that the local authority can now use to combat anti-social behaviour, and Litigation, the team in which Monique is based, has been advising on and overseeing the implementation of those powers.

The job involves a lot of partnership working - with the police, with the Council's Community Protection Department and, with City West-Homes, the Council's Arm's Length Management Company.

Monique's ability to take on new challenges and the work she has done in assisting the Council's Anti-social Behaviour Unit recently won her the title of Employee of the Quarter and a cash prize of £1,000.

When asked why she has stayed at Westminster for so long, she says "Westminster is a great place to work because it's right in the centre of it all! The things we do here will always make the headlines, whether good or bad, and as an employer, Westminster has a great rewards package - our hours are really flexible and we get a generous annual leave entitlement."