The search for the next chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission has begun as Helen Pitcher – who quit the Criminal Cases Review Commission after claiming she was ‘scapegoated’ over the Andrew Malkinson case – prepares to step down.
In a post on its website, the commission thanked Pitcher, whose three-year tenure began in January 2023, for her ‘leadership and dedication’.
Pitcher said: ‘I have hugely enjoyed this key role and presiding over many key senior selection decisions. I will leave the commission in an excellent position to fulfil its strategic plan and thank all commissioners and staff for their dedication and support through an unprecedented time in the history of the JAC.’
As well as overseeing the judicial appointments body, Pitcher was chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, but resigned in January after a KC-led review found the CCRC failed Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison after being wrongly convicted.
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Pitcher faced calls to resign from her JAC post but told Gazette columnist and legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg at the time she intended to complete the remaining year of her tenure.
The recruitment process for her successor is being led by the Ministry of Justice's public appointments team. According to the job spec, the new chair will work three days a week and be paid £577 per day. As well as leading a team of 14 commissioners, the successful candidate will be a ‘driven individual with the skills to promote the commissioner’s statutory duty to attract diverse applicants from a wide field as well as to uphold judicial independence and the rule of law’.
The ministry noted there was ‘great interest in how judges are selected’. The Law Society has previously called for the commission’s ‘statutory consultation’ process to be abolished. More recently, the Court of Appeal looked under the bonnet of the controversial selection tool as part of a district judge’s legal challenge.
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