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Lord Chancellor's Department
Press Release
3 December 1999

 

LORD CHANCELLOR PUBLISHES INDEPENDENT REVIEW
OF QUEEN'S COUNSEL AND JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS SYSTEMS

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, has decided to appoint a Commissioner for Judicial Appointments to provide independent monitoring of the procedures for appointing judges and Queen's Counsel (QCs).

The new post is a key recommendation in a Report on the judicial and QC appointments systems in England and Wales by Sir Leonard Peach which is published today.

Sir Leonard, a former Commissioner for Public Appointments, was appointed by Lord Irvine to conduct an independent scrutiny into the assessment and selection systems and their safeguards against racial or gender discrimination. He was given open access to all parts of the process, including the individual, personal records of applicants. He also consulted widely among the judiciary, the legal profession, officials at the Lord Chancellor's Department and equal opportunities groups.

The Lord Chancellor is supported in the appointments process by civil servants within the Lord Chancellor's Department. In 1998-99, the Department received 3719 applications and arranged 1423 interviews, leading to 634 appointments to judicial offices - and 500 "feedback" sessions with unsuccessful candidates.

Sir Leonard said he was impressed by the quality of the work, the professionalism and the depth of experience of the civil servants involved. He found that their approach compared well with those of other organisations in the public and private sectors. Feedback to unsuccessful candidates was impressive and not matched elsewhere in scale or take-up to his knowledge.

Sir Leonard's main recommendations include:

A Commission for Judicial Appointments.

A Commissioner, and a number of Deputy Commissioners, would provide ongoing, independent monitoring of procedures and act as an Ombudsman for disappointed candidates and organisations. The Commissioner would make recommendations to the Lord Chancellor about improvements to the process. The Commission which Sir Leonard recommends would not advise on the appointments to be made but would pursue an independent oversight of the system through participating in the meetings and deliberations that are critical in the whole appointments process. The Commission would publish an annual report which would be part of the Lord Chancellor's report to Parliament on
judicial appointments.

Part-time Judges.

An experimental, one-day assessment centre should be substituted for the current interview process for part-time judges - allowing more time to be devoted to initial selection of part-time judges who are potential full-time judges. Annual self-appraisal, agreed by a tutor judge, should also be introduced for all part-time judges.

Queen's Counsel.

Sir Leonard's main recommendation is that assessment for the rank of Queen's Counsel should be conducted against the professional requirements for the position and should not be confused with potential for the judiciary.

Sir Leonard's 26 recommendations also include improvements to succession planning for High Court and Appeal judges; improved reserve listing to meet requirements more quickly, particularly for tribunals; and more interchange between various judicial groups. He also makes a number of recommendations in the equal opportunities field.

The Lord Chancellor welcomed Sir Leonard's report.

He said, "I want to appoint the best possible judges from among those who put themselves forward. That requires the best possible systems for assessment and selection of candidates. Sir Leonard has made a number of very constructive recommendations for improvements.

"I shall act promptly on the central recommendation of appointing a Judicial Appointments Commissioner and will consider Sir Leonard's further recommendations in detail along with other comments and reactions to his report."

Lord Irvine welcomed Sir Leonard's clear distinction between the criteria for QC and judicial appointments.

He said, "The rank of QC is awarded to the leading junior advocates of the day and of course there are some solicitor QCs. But the best advocates do not necessarily make the best judges. Today's judges need to be able to meet the demands of managing cases and to have the personal skills needed to run a court, as well as being first class lawyers. In the past there may have been too great a tendency to promote the best advocates from the Bar to the Bench, with insufficient attention to the possibility of promoting other lawyers working in the courts.

"The skills and experience needed to be a judge may perfectly well be shown by a successful litigation solicitor as by a leading advocate, and indeed that has already been proved to be the case by the appointment of solicitors to the bench.

"I want to appoint the judges with the best potential - regardless of whether they come from the ranks of barristers or solicitors."

Sir Leonard Peach's report - An Independent Scrutiny of the Appointment Processes of Judges and Queen's Counsel in England and Wales - is available on the LCD website (www.open.gov.uk/lcd - see "What's New?" ) UPDATE: SITE NO LONGER LIVE - 08/02/08

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