Commissioner for Judicial Appointments

Recruitment consultants have been engaged by the Lord Chancellor’s Department to find a non-lawyer to be appointed as the First Commissioner for Judicial Appointments. The person being sought for the post of First Commissioner will have a track record and success at a senior level in the public or private sector, will probably be experienced in recruitment procedures and equal opportunities practice, and will have a full appreciation of diversity issues. He will be paid £70,500 a year and expected to work three days a week. In addition to the First Commissioner, the Peach Report recommended there should – in time – be up to ten part-time (deputy) commissioners, not more than one third of whom would have a legal background. The Commission will not decide who should be appointed as a judge or a Queen’s Counsel but will advise the Lord Chancellor. The Commission will also be able to investigate complaints about how the procedures have been applied in individual cases, advise the Lord Chancellor on its findings, and make recommendations for change.