Judicial Appointments Commission
The independent Judicial Appointments Commission selects candidates for judicial office in England and Wales, and for some tribunals with UK-wide powers. The JAC selects candidates for judicial office on merit, through fair and open competition, from the widest range of eligible candidates.
It is responsible for administering selection exercises and making recommendations for judicial appointments up to and including the High Court. At the request of the Lord Chancellor, and in consultation with the Lady Chief Justice, it also contributes to the selection of senior judicial office holders, including the Lady Chief Justice, Heads of Division, the Senior President of Tribunals, and Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal.
The Judicial Appointments Commission was established on 3 April 2006 under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, with statutory responsibility for overseeing judicial appointments in England and Wales. Its creation transferred the judicial selection process from the Lord Chancellor, introducing greater transparency, accountability, and independence in judicial appointments. The JAC is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Ministry of Justice.
There are 15 Commissioners, including the (lay) Chairman. All are recruited and appointed through open competition with the exception of three judicial members who are selected either by the Judges’ Council or the Tribunals’ Council. Membership of the Commission is drawn from the judiciary, the legal profession, non-legally qualified judicial officer holders and the public. Commissioners are appointed in their own right and are not representatives of the professions that they may come from.