News story: Appointments to the Attorney General’s Special Advocate Panel

The Attorney General is seeking to appoint new members to his panel of Special Advocates, and wishes to recruit advocates at the junior level, in particular those with expertise in Family and Employment Tribunal work.

Special Advocates

The Special Advocate competition is open to both self-employed barristers and solicitor-advocates with at least 5 years’ advocacy experience.

The role of the Special Advocate has developed in proceedings before a wide variety of forums, both statutory and non-statutory in origin, where a party, with the permission of the forum, seeks to rely upon ‘closed’ evidence. Closed evidence may raise issues concerning national security. Individuals and their legal representatives are excluded from hearings where closed evidence is used.

Special Advocates perform an important role by representing the interests of the excluded party in those hearings and subjecting the sensitive material to scrutiny, thereby promoting the fairness of the proceedings.

Application

To obtain details of how to apply, email PanelCounsel@governmentlegal.gov.uk.

Completed applications must be submitted by noon on Monday 18 September 2017.