Several members of 18SJS have been appointed to the Attorney General’s Regional Civil Panel to undertake cases as instructed by the government and administered by the Government Legal Department (GLD).
Attorney general’s regional civil panel
The list of 18 St John Street’s appointed Attorney General’s Regional Civil Panel members is as follows:
Silk Panel
Panel A
Jennifer Newstead Taylor, Dr Christopher McNall, Oliver Caplan
Panel B
Rupert Davies
Junior Panel
The Government website states:
“The Attorney General maintains panels of junior counsel to undertake civil and EU work for all government departments. These are in addition to any standing counsel and the First Treasury Counsel, James Eadie KC.
The panel system is made up of London Panels, Regional Panels and Public International Law Panels, each set up as follows:
A Panel – deals with the most complex government cases in all kinds of courts and tribunals. Members will often appear against KCs. In general, those appointed to the A panel will have over 10 years’ advocacy experience.
B Panel – deals with substantial cases but not in general as complex as those handled by the A panel. Members will generally be instructed where knowledge and experience of a particular field is required. B panel applicants will generally have between 5 and 10 years’ advocacy experience but those with more experience can also apply.
C Panel – members will generally have between 2 and 5 years’ advocacy experience but those with more experience can apply. Those appointed to the C panel will often (but not always) become the A and B panel members of the future and so will be expected to show the potential to join the A panel.
‘Advocacy experience’ means experience in actual practice usually from the end of second 6 months’ pupillage. Where a third 6 months’ pupillage is taken there will need to be a judgement as to the extent and quality of the advocacy undertaken during that period.
The size of each panel is determined by need.
All government departments and agencies of government departments must use the panels.”