A solicitor who has previously held positions in the National Crime Agency and the Serious Fraud Office has been appointed the chief executive of the Judicial Office.

Michelle Crotty, admitted in 1999, will begin her new role on 22 April. In an annoucement today, the lady chief justice said that Crotty would bring a ‘wealth of legal experience’ to the role.

The Judicial Office, which describes itself as a ‘unique branch of the civil service, independent from the machinery which supports the government, and dedicated to supporting the judiciary as the third arm of the state’, promotes and safeguards judicial independence. It incorporates the Judicial College and the Independent Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.

Crotty will move from her current role in the SFO as chief capability officer where she is responsible for corporate services and technology. 

Michelle Crotty

Crotty will begin her new role in April

Crotty began her legal career as a criminal solicitor before becoming a partner in Bullivant & Partners. She then joined HM Revenue & Customs as a prosecutions officer. 

She joined the Attorney General’s office as director and deputy head between 2015 and 2019 before taking up the position of director of the NCA where she was responsible for the agency’s strategic performance and communications divisions.

Interim chief executives Clare Farren and Amy Shaw will remain in the role until Crotty takes up her position.

Law Society president Nick Emmerson congratulated Crotty on her appointment. 'We’re happy to see a solicitor appointed to the role. We look forward to working with the new CEO to ensure the best and the brightest from all backgrounds are given a real chance at a judicial career.'