Who? Viviane Reding has just been appointed as the commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship in José Manuel Barroso’s new European Commission. As such, she will be responsible for the lawyers’ portfolio, along with the many justice issues that the commission now deals with. She is the first to hold a separate justice portfolio.The good news? – she is a powerful and experienced player at European level. She was a member of the European Parliament for 10 years, and has been a commissioner twice before: first for education, culture, youth, media, sport (1999-2004), and for the last five years for information society and media, where she has built a good reputation dealing with the telecoms industry. She was responsible for ushering in lower roaming charges on mobile phones against the wishes of the industry. Mr Barroso has made her effectively the first vice-president of the commission, meaning she will handle meetings in his absence. So we have an experienced and important person.

The bad news? - she is not a lawyer, and has no justice background. She is a former journalist (and so may have sympathy for lawyer confidentiality issues), and is also a former member of the Luxembourg parliament.

Trivial fact? – Luxembourg, Ms Reding’s home state, has a population of 487,751, at a time when the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) admitted its 42nd member last week, bringing the number of lawyers that the CCBE represents through member bars to over one million (in other words, more than twice the population of Luxembourg).

Her first challenge? - to answer five questions that the European Parliament has set all newly appointed commissioners. They have to turn in written answers no later than 7 January, before the hearings which are scheduled for mid-January. The first question will be the most difficult for Ms Reding: ‘What aspects of your personal qualifications and experience are particularly relevant for becoming commissioner and promoting the European general interest, particularly in the area you would be responsible for?’ Given her background, it will be interesting to hear how she answers it. Also interesting will be her answer to subsequent questions on her three main priorities and on the legislative proposals she intends to pursue. It is good that commissioners have to undergo such a hearing. You may remember that on previous occasions the parliament has rejected an individual commissioner or forced the resignation of the whole commission.

Her second challenge? - to get on well with Cecilia Malmström, the newly appointed commissioner for home affairs (from Sweden). That is because they will be sharing a department. The old directorate general for Justice, Freedom and Security will now have two commissioners, one dealing with justice and one with home affairs. Lawyers should hope that the two fall out soon, because it is more sensible that justice should have its own department.

What will she do? – the first piece of major business will be the publication and subsequent implementation of the commission’s Action Plan on the Stockholm Programme. This is the programme, due to be signed off by European justice ministers in mid-December, that will set out priorities and proposals in the justice sector for the next five years.

Suggested conversation opener? – ‘Don’t you think that court fees are rather like roaming charges?’

What should you not raise in conversation? – Ah, you’re from Luxembourg. Isn’t that the only member state to have been brought before the European Court of Justice for not implementing the lawyers’ Establishment Directive properly?’Jonathan Goldsmith is the secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, which represents more than 700,000 European lawyers through its member bars and law societies