JUNIOR COUNSEL TO THE CROWN

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S LONDON PANELS

INFORMATION FOR CANDIDATES 2024

Thank you for your interest in the Attorney General’s London Panels of Junior Counsel to
the Crown.

General Background

The Attorney General maintains (by means of an open advertisement and application
process) a number of panels of junior counsel to undertake civil work for all government
departments; London Panels, Regional Panels, and Public International Law (PIL) Panels,
each set up as follows:

 A Panel – this is for senior juniors with usually at least 10 years post pupillage
advocacy experience at the point of appointment
 B Panel – this is for middle juniors who have usually at least 5 years post-pupillage
advocacy experience
 C Panel – this is for juniors who have at least 2 years post-pupillage advocacy
experience.

Note the years of experience are a minimum and many of those on the panel have
considerably more experience than the minimum.

Members of the A Panel deal with the most complex government cases in all kinds of courts
and tribunals.

Members of the B 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.

Members of the C Panel are likely to be instructed as sole advocates in county court or
tribunal cases. They may be instructed as a junior to more senior counsel.

The Attorney General’s London Panel undertakes civil work in the Southeast of England.
Applicants will be expected to have a substantial professional connection with London or the
Southeast or both, e.g., be a member of the relevant circuit or have a principal practice
address within the area. Successful applicants will be expected to travel within the region.

Membership is open to both barristers and solicitors with the necessary qualifications.
Please see further requirements/guidance in our FAQ document if you are applying as an
employed barrister or as a solicitor with HRA. If you have a query about how these
requirements may apply to you, please contact [email protected]

The size of each panel is determined by need. We monitor the volume of work panel
members receive although appointment to the panel cannot be a guarantee that work will be
available.

As is the case every year, the Attorney General is looking for applicants with experience in
general public and administrative law, employment or personal injury. For the 2024

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exercise, the Attorney is also looking to deepen the capacity of the panels by appointing
specialists in the following areas:

 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
 Energy/Utilities
 Environmental and Regulatory Law
 Equality and Discrimination
 Extradition
 Family and Public Children’s Law
 General Tax Work – Direct and Indirect, Personal and Business
 Health and social care including medicines ethics and mental health
 Industrial Diseases
 Inquests
 Insolvency
 Intellectual Property
 Land and Planning (including Environmental Impact expertise)
 Maritime Law
 Pensions
 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 and subsidies, international arbitration
and shipping
 VAT and Duties including VAT fraud

The Attorney General is also looking to appoint applicants who can advise 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.

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I am an existing panel member; do I have to reapply this year?

If your period of appointment ends in August 2024 then this is your last opportunity to apply
before your current period of appointment ends. This will apply to the vast majority of those
Panel members appointed in 2019.

Which of London A, B or C Panel to apply for?

Applicants who are not already panel members can apply for whichever of the panels A, B
or C they consider most appropriate to their level of expertise and experience.

Please also be aware that if, for example, you apply to the B Panel and the selection board
consider your application to be more appropriate for the C Panel they will not recommend
you for appointment to the C Panel. It is therefore very important that you take your time
and decide which panel is appropriate for you.

If you apply and are unsuccessful, this will not bring any current panel membership to a
premature end. It will continue to the end of its term.

Eligibility

Applicants must have:

1. At least two years advocacy experience in actual practice by Thursday 4 April 2024
(starting from end of 2nd six months’ pupillage for barristers, end of training contract for
solicitors).

2. A substantial professional connection with London or the Southeast of England or

both.

3. Experience of both advocacy and advisory work in one or more of the areas of work
covered by the panel. The areas are very extensive because the panel covers the wide
range of public and private law in which central government is involved. It does not,
however, deal with criminal prosecutions, and involvement in litigation involving pure private
client work is limited. Applicants with experience in those areas will need to demonstrate the
ability to work in other areas as well.

4. Advocacy experience and ability as demonstrated by appearances before courts and

tribunals.

5. Written/drafting ability to be evidenced by a recent specimen of work (an opinion or

skeleton (or nearest equivalent).

6. A willingness to work as part of a team with professionals from other disciplines

without compromising professional independence.

Application

All applicants are required to complete an application obtained via the Ministry of Justice
portal.

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To obtain an application, please email [email protected] and ask to
be registered to apply for the London A, B or C Panel. You will then be registered and sent
a username and password to access the Ministry of Justice portal.

You can then complete the form in your own time, providing answers to questions set and
providing evidence of your capability.

Once completed, the form must be uploaded to the Ministry of Justice portal – in Word
format no later than midday on Thursday 4 April 2024.

Applications submitted other than via the Ministry of Justice portal will not be accepted.

Competitions are by invitation only. Even if you have previously used the Ministry of Justice
portal, you will still have to ask to register, and we will arrange to reactivate your account
and a new password will be issued.

Equality and Diversity Monitoring Form

The Attorney General’s Panels of junior Counsel arrangements follow the fundamental
principles of the Equality Act 2010. Accordingly, all applicants applying to join the Panel
Counsel must complete an Equality and Diversity Monitoring Questionnaire. Please
complete the form and then upload it to the portal (in Word format please).

The Attorney General will appoint the advocates who appear to be best qualified regardless
of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, marital and civil partnership status, pregnancy
and maternity, race, religion and belief, or sexual orientation. Women, members of ethnic
minorities and those with disabilities are particularly encouraged to apply.

Completing the form will help us in our work to make the range of applications to the panel
truly reflective of all those who might be eligible to apply.

The information you provide will be treated in total confidence. The equality and diversity
form will be kept separate from your application form and will not be seen by anyone
involved in assessing your application or selecting the new panel members. The information
will be used to compile anonymous statistics during the recruitment exercise, and retained
only if you are appointed, again for statistical purposes regarding the composition of the
panels.

For details of how we handle your data please see our privacy notice Privacy Notice

Selection

The selection boards are chaired by a senior lawyer at the Government Legal Department
and consist of lawyers from various government departments and a nominee representing
the Bar Council. In addition, a senior advocate with experience of government litigation
often sits on the A Panel selection board. A member of a higher panel often sits on the B
and C Panel selection boards.

Following consideration of all the applications, the selection boards will present their
recommendations to the Law Officers. Appointments will be made by the Attorney General.

Mentoring

We wish to encourage applications from as wide a range as possible of those eligible to

apply. We will therefore endeavour to put lawyers who are considering applying for the
panels for the first time, and who want to discuss the application process, in touch with an
established panel member.

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The mentor will discuss the application process, the eligibility criteria, and the presentation
of relevant information on the application form.

If you are considering applying for one of the panels and would like a mentor, please email:
[email protected] on or before Friday 15 March 2024.

You may want to start to pull your application together before you speak to your mentor.

Information Security

Those government departments that make use of the panels take information security very
seriously. Successful applicants will be expected to safeguard government information in
their possession, to adhere to government information security requirements and to
complete various questionnaires regarding compliance with those requirements during their
membership of the panels.

Further Information

We have produced a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet which is available as a

separate part of the application pack. If you cannot find the answer to your question on the
FAQ sheet, please feel free to contact the Panel Counsel Secretariat in the Government
Legal Department, by email: [email protected]

7 February 2024