Government Legal Department
The Attorney General is seeking to appoint new members to three civil 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 kinds of courts and tribunals, including the Supreme Court. They will often appear against KCs. Those previously appointed to the A panel have generally had more than 10 years advocacy experience in actual practice from the end of second six for barristers and date of commencement of advocacy for solicitors.
London B Panel
Members of this panel 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 of a particular field is required. Those previously appointed to the B panel have generally had between 5 and 10 years advocacy experience.
London C Panel
Members of this panel 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.
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 five years.
The Attorney General is looking for applicants with experience in general public and administrative law, employment or personal injury.
For the 2023 exercise, the Attorney General is also looking to deepen the capacity of the panels by appointing specialists in the following areas:
- Administrative Law
- Aviation, Maritime/Shipping, Highways
- 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
- Cyber, AI
- Data Protection and Freedom of Information
- Defamation
- Education, including Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
- Employment
- Energy/Utilities
- Environmental and Regulatory Law
- Equality and Discrimination
- Extradition
- Family and Public Childrens Law
- General Tax Work Direct and Indirect, Personal and Business
- Health and social care including medicines ethics and mental health
- Immigration
- Industrial Diseases
- Inquests
- Insolvency
- Intellectual Property
- Land and Planning (including Environmental Impact expertise)
- Pensions
- Personal Injury
- Proceeds of Crime
- Procurement
- Professional Regulation
- Property (including Landlord and Tenant)
- Public Law
- Rating and Valuation
- Restitution
- Sanctions
- 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.
Public International Law and Trade specialists are also eligible to apply for appointment to the Public International Law (PIL) panel, and there is no bar to being a member of both panels.
Application
To obtain details about the application process, we recommend reading our document and the sheet.
To make an application, please email the Panel Counsel Secretariat 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 12pm on Wednesday 5 April 2023.
Helpful videos explaining the process for reference selection:
General References https://youtu.be/J6J_Lvmkc4c
Judicial References https://youtu.be/arH9ZfSi2jo
Other than judicial references https://youtu.be/70_YLqnqxvs
Further information and our mentoring scheme
To help candidates find out more about civil panel counsel, some of our current panel members have shared their experience of being on panel.
We wish to encourage applications from as wide a range as possible of those eligible to apply. We will 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