Attorney General kickstarts recruitment drive to refresh regional civil panels of junior counsel

September 15, 2022

The Attorney General is looking to appoint junior counsel experienced in general public and administrative law, employment, and personal injury to the regional civil panels.

In a tweak to its 2022 recruitment exercise for regional panels A, B and C, the Attorney General's Office said it is also looking to "deepen the capacity of the panels" by appointing specialists across a large range of areas.

Administered by the Government Legal Department (GLD), the Attorney General's panels consist of just over 400 junior counsel who undertake civil and EU work for all government departments.

Appointment to the three panels is dependent upon experience, with A Panel members typically holding in excess of 10 years advocacy experience, according to the announcement. A Panel members handle the most complex government cases in all kinds of courts and tribunals, often appearing against QCs.

B Panel members deal with "substantial cases but not in general as complex" as those handled by the A Panel. They will generally be instructed where knowledge and experience in a particular field are required.

Those previously appointed to the B panel have generally had between 5 and 10 years' advocacy experience.

C Panel members will be expected to have at least two years' experience. Those appointed to the C panel will often (but not exclusively) provide the A and B panel members of the future and so should have the potential to join the A panel.

Appointments will be for five years.

According to the announcement, the Attorney is looking to appoint specialists in the following areas:

Administrative Law
Charity/Trusts
Clinical negligence
Construction
Contracts, Partnerships and Commercial Law in general (including private international law aspects)
Costs (including routine and/or mass group litigation experience)
Customs control – customs duties and other customs matters
Defamation
Education
Employment
Energy/Utilities
Family and Children's Law
Health and social care including medicines ethics and mental health
Immigration
Industrial Diseases
Industrial RelationsInquests
Insolvency
Intellectual Property
Land and Planning/Environmental
Pensions
Personal Injury
Proceeds of Crime
Procurement
Professional regulation
Property (including Landlord and Tenant)
Public Law
Rating and Valuation
Restitution
Social Security, including free movement, social justice and statutory payments
Tax Work – Direct and Indirect, Personal and Business
Trade including Competition, State Aid & subsidies, international arbitration, shipping
VAT and Duties, including VAT fraud

The Attorney General is also looking to appoint applicants capable of advising departments on the interface of public and commercial law issues and also where criminal or regulatory issues arise in public law cases.

Prospective panel members have until noon on Thursday, 13 October 2022, to apply. More information can be found here.

Adam Carey