A former chair of a selection panel that advises the lord chancellor on silks is the nominated candidate to lead the selection body for judicial appointments, the Ministry of Justice announced today.

Helen Pitcher OBE, currently chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission, has been selected to become the next chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission. However, she cannot take on the job until a pre-appointment hearing has been conducted by the House of Commons justice select committee.

The MoJ said pre-appointment scrutiny is an important part of the recruitment process for some of the most significant public appointments made by ministers. ‘It is designed to provide an added level of scrutiny to the appointment process. Pre-appointment hearings are held in public and allow a select committee to take evidence before a candidate is appointed. Ministers consider the committee’s views before deciding whether to proceed with the appointment, the MoJ said.

The committee is likely to raise questions about judicial diversity and ‘statutory consultation’, a controversial process that requires the JAC to consult with judicial office-holders about candidates. The Law Society wants statutory consultation, which was the subject of an independent review, abolished. Writing in the Gazette last week, Society president Lubna Shuja said the judiciary was still overwhelmingly white and male, particularly at the more senior levels, and urged the JAC to examine its selection process as a whole.

Prior to becoming chair of the CCRC in November 2018, Pitcher was chair of the Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel. She is also a former member of the Bar Council’s professional conduct committee.

Should Pitcher be appointed, she will succeed Lord Kakkar, whose second term as JAC chair ended in October.