Law Weblog

Judges – appointments process

Wednesday 26 October 2005 at 3:06 pm | In News | Post Comment

The appearance of inappropriate actions on the part of the Lord Chancellor in the selection of judges is not acceptable.
In October 2005 a row broke out between the Lord Chancellor and the Commission for Judicial Appointments, which accused the Lord Chancellor of interfering in the judicial selection process and also of using his influence to favour Oxbridge educated candidates.

The observation appeared in the Commission’s annual report, which accused Lord Falconer of acting “inappropriately” in appointing Wyn Williams QC as a specialist chancery circuit judge for Cardiff despite the unanimous recommendation of the selection panel that the job go to another candidate because Williams lacked the experience of chancery work stipulated in the job advertisement.

Lord Falconer denied he had tried to persuade the commission to change its conclusions.

The Commissioner Sir Colin Campbell said he found it “quite disturbing” that in the legal arena there should be a complaints system without redress. “It is not acceptable for an individual to be informed that an independent commission has upheld his or her complaint, but then to have redress denied.”

Campbell criticised the Government for rejecting the independent watchdog’s recommendations on five occasions over the last four years.

The Judicial Appointments Commission, takes over responsibility for the appointment of judges in England and Wales from April 2006.