Please go to King's Counsel Recruitment | King's Counsel Appointments (kcappointments.org) where you will find further information and details of how to apply.
LAY MEMBERS FOR THE KING’S COUNSEL SELECTION PANEL
Contents
Summary
- Organisation
- Kings Counsel Appointments
- Sponsor department
- Ministry of Justice
- Location
- London
- Sectors
- Judicial, Prisons & Policing
- Skills
- Communication, Human Resources
- Number of vacancies
- 2
- Time commitment
- Adhoc
- Remuneration
- £840 per day
- Length of term
- Appointments will initially be for a two-year period, which may be extended to a maximum of five years
- Application deadline
- 11:59pm on 15 May 2025
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Timeline for this appointment
-
Opening date
17 April 2025
-
Application deadline
11:59pm on 15 May 2025
-
Sifting date
30 June 2025
-
Interviews expected to end on
31 July 2025
Timeline dates are only an estimate and can change
About the appointment
Appointment description
The Law Society and the Bar Council are seeking to recruit two lay members (one for an immediate start and one to start in January 2025) for the Selection Panel which recommends advocates for appointment as King’s Counsel (KC). The KC rank identifies excellence in advocacy in the higher courts. It is the most significant award available to an advocate, whether solicitor or barrister.
The Selection Panel comprises eleven members - two senior barristers, two senior solicitors, two retired senior judges, and five lay members. Legal and lay members play an equal part in all the work of the Panel, but the Chair is always drawn from amongst the lay members. It is essential that all the members should be of very high calibre: the Panel has significant responsibilities for making decisions with a real impact on the practice of law at the highest level.
Subjectin 2025, six are women and four are men; four of the members are from a minority ethnic background.
Panel members must be available for a minimum of 32 days a year, mostly between mid-June and early November. Appointments will initially be for a two-year period, which may be extended to a maximum of five years. Meetings will be held in London.
As a lay member you must be able to demonstrate an ability to sift through complex evidence from multiple sources and reach incisive judgements. To command public confidence and respect, you must display a proven commitment to equality of opportunity and diversity. You will have well-developed interviewing skills, although training will be provided and have held a senior position of authority. You must not be a member of the legal profession, but Lay magistrates are eligible to apply.
Organisation description
The King’s Counsel Appointments Selection Panel is responsible for recommendations to the Lord Chancellor on appointment of King’s Counsel (KC). The award of KC, or ‘Silk’ is made for excellence in advocacy in the higher courts and is the most significant award available to an advocate, whether solicitor or barrister.
The Selection Panel is independent of the Bar Council, the Law Society and of Government.
This advert is sponsored by the Ministry of Justice only for
the purposes of advertising via the Public Appointments website.
Board composition
The KC Selection Panel comprises a lay (non-legally qualified) chair, four other lay members and five or six legally qualified members (of which there will be one or two retired senior judicial member(s), two senior barrister members and two senior solicitor members).
The following comprise the Selection Panel for the 2025 competition:
• Monisha Shah (Chair) (lay member)
• Nicolina Andall (legal member)
• Matthew Chapman KC (legal member)
• Paul Grant (lay member)
• Diana Luchford (lay member)
• Sir Martin Moore-Bick (legal member)
• John Montague (legal member)
• Sara Nathan (lay member)
• Dame Anne Rafferty DBE (legal member)
• Sultana Tafadar KC (legal member)
Person specification
Essential criteria
The King’s Counsel Selection Panel exists to make recommendations to the Lord Chancellor on the appointment of King’s Counsel or ‘Silks’. It is essential that the Selection Panel as a whole should command the confidence of the judiciary, the legal profession and the public at large, having the necessary qualities to make appropriate recommendations for appointment in accordance with the agreed competency framework for KCs.
To be appointed as a lay member of the Selection Panel you are likely to have:
- Held a senior position of authority and responsibility in the public, private or third (ie community, not-for-profit and voluntary) sectors, or been a similarly senior member of an analogous organisation;
- Served in the wider public interest and be able to command public confidence;
- Experience of interviews and selection processes
Selection Panel members must be able to demonstrate the ability to:
- Judge evidence against a competency framework and a standard of excellence;
- Sift through evidence amassed from a number of sources and to reach an incisive judgment based entirely on that evidence;
- Able to work online, manage their own workload and meet targets and deadlines;
- Record the reasons for decisions and to be able to justify them;
- Work collaboratively and form professional working relationships with colleagues on the Panel, the secretariat and others;
- Have respectful dialogue with a diverse panel, contribute to collective decisions and abide by and support those decisions;
- Observe, at all times, the highest standards of confidentiality of applicants, assessors and, more generally, the internal workings of the Panel;
- Interview applicants in line with a competency framework. Some experience of interviewing is essential, although further training will be provided.
Desirable criteria
Some experience of the
legal profession may be an advantage, but it is not essential
Application and selection process
Malcolm Cree: Chief Executive, The Bar Council
Ian Jeffery: Chief Executive, The Law Society
Monisha Shah: Chair, King’s Counsel Selection Panel
You must not be a
barrister, solicitor or judge from any jurisdiction. Lay Justices of the Peace are eligible to
apply.
Additional information for candidates
We are a member of the Government’s Disability Confident scheme. We use the Disability Confident scheme symbol, along with other like-minded employers, to show our commitment to good practice in employing people with a disability. The scheme helps recruit
Holders of public office are expected to adhere to and uphold the Seven Principles of Public Life. These are:
- Selflessness - Holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest.
- Integrity - Holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.
- Objectivity - Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.
- Accountability - Holders of public office are accountable to the public for their decisions and actions and must submit themselves to the scrutiny necessary to ensure this.
- Openness - Holders of public office should act and take decisions in an open and transparent manner. Information should not be withheld from the public unless there are clear and lawful reasons for so doing.
- Honesty - Holders of public office should be truthful.
- Leadership - Holders of public office should exhibit these principles in their own behaviour and treat others with respect. They should actively promote and robustly support the principles and challenge poor behaviour wherever it occurs.
No other arrangements have been made for compensation upon the end of your term of appointment because an office holder who is appointed for a limited duration would have no expectation of serving beyond that period.
We will notify you of the status of your application. We regret that we are only able to offer detailed feedback to candidates who have been unsuccessful at the interview stage.
If you have a complaint about any aspect of the way your application has been handled, please e-mail the KCA Chief Executive, Hannah Miller, on Hannah.Miller@kcappointments.org
Complaints must be received within 6 calendar months of the issue.
We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days of receipt and reply within 20 working days of receipt. We will tell you if we cannot meet this deadline for any reason and provide an expected reply date.
Data protection: Kings Counsel Appointments will
use your data in line with our privacy policy Privacy
Policy | King's Counsel Appointments (kcappointments.org)
For further information, please contact: Hannah.Miller@kcappointments.org