Senior President of Tribunals – Annual Report 2013
“I could not start the introduction to my first Annual Report as Senior President without reference to my predecessor, Robert Carnwath. Robert was an inspirational first Senior President and is a difficult act to follow. During his term as Shadow Senior President and then as the first Senior President, he led tribunals through a remarkable transformation staying true to the Leggatt ideal, that tribunals should be for users – not the other way around. The Leggatt Report was the catalyst for the new tribunals system which Robert’s vision and guidance helped put in place through the structure we have today. When he left the role of the Senior President to take up his appointment to the Supreme Court it was reassuring to read in his parting remarks that “tribunals have left their mark on me – and that will be evident in my work in the Supreme Court”.
“As Senior President, Robert Carnwath oversaw the creation of the current structure into the ten chambers in the two tiers that we have today. My early impressions as Senior President are of an organisational and leadership structure that works very well. The chambers structure groups like jurisdictions (or those requiring similar judicial expertise) together and has proved flexible enough absorb new jurisdictions into existing chambers.”