The Attorney General is seeking to appoint new members to 3 of her panels of junior counsel, the London A, B and C panels, to undertake civil work for government departments.
Membership of the London panels is open to both barristers and solicitors with the appropriate qualifications.
London A Panel
Members of this panel deal with the most complex government cases in all courts and tribunals, including the Supreme Court. They will often appear against QC’s. Those previously appointed to the A panel have generally had in excess of 10 years advocacy experience in actual practice (from end of 2nd 6 months’ pupillage for barristers, date of commencement of advocacy for solicitors).
London B Panel
Members of this panel deal with substantial cases, but in general not as complex as those handled by the A panel. They will generally be instructed where knowledge and experience of a particular field is required. Those previously appointed to the B panel have generally had between 5 and 10 years advocacy experience in actual practice (from end of 2nd 6 months’ pupillage for barristers, date of commencement of advocacy for solicitors).
London C Panel
Members of this panel will be expected to have at least 2 years’ experience in actual practice (from end of 2nd six months’ pupillage for barristers, date of commencement of advocacy for solicitors). 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.
In choosing which of the panels to apply to, candidates will want to make a careful decision based on which best suits their level of expertise and experience. Appointments will be for 5 years.
As is the case every year, the Attorney General is looking for applicants with experience in:
- general public and administrative law
- employment
- personal injury
For the 2022 exercise, the Attorney is also looking to deepen the capacity of the panels by appointing specialists in the following areas:
- 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
- Energy/Utilities
- Family and Children’s Law
- General Tax Work – Direct and Indirect, Personal and Business
- Health and social care including medicines ethics and mental health
- Industrial Diseases
- Industrial Relations
- Inquests
- Insolvency
- Intellectual Property
- Land and Planning/Environmental
- Pensions
- Proceeds of Crime
- Procurement
- Professional regulation
- Property (including Landlord and Tenant)
- Rating and Valuation
- Restitution
- Social Security, including free movement, social justice and statutory payments
- Trade including Competition, State Aid and subsidies, international arbitration, and 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.
Application
To obtain details about the application process, we recommend reading our document and the sheet.
Helpful videos explaining the process for reference selection and replying to the Government litigation question can be found below.
- Other than judicial references
Other than judicial references
To make an application please email panelcounsel@governmentlegal.gov.uk and register an interest in applying. Please note that registering an interest does not commit you to making an application if you later decide not to do so.
Once you have registered, you will be provided with a link to access our online portal to obtain the full application pack.
Completed applications must be submitted by noon on Thursday 7 April 2022.
Further information and our mentoring scheme
If you have any queries, please feel free to raise them in the first instance with the Government Legal Department Panel Counsel Secretariat via email panelcounsel@governmentlegal.gov.uk
We wish to encourage applications from as wide a range as possible of those eligible to apply. We will therefore endeavour to put advocates who are considering applying and who want to discuss the application process in touch with an established Panel member. The mentor will discuss either by telephone or in a meeting the application process, the eligibility criteria and the presentation of relevant information on the application form.
If you are considering applying and want a mentor please contact the Panel Counsel Secretariat: panelcounsel@governmentlegal.gov.uk by Friday 18 March 2022.
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