Attorney General launches new international law advice panels
Government seeks more lawyers to advise on its international cases.
The Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC MP is looking to boost the numbers of lawyers available to work for the Government on international cases.
Later today he will announce recruitment for a new panel of junior counsel to take on advisory work and litigation in various fields of international law, forming a Public International Law Panel.
They would work in a range of situations involving issues of international law, including representing the Government in litigation arising in domestic courts or international courts or tribunals.
The Attorney will say:
As the volume of international civil cases grows, now is the right time to make sure we can calls on barristers who are sufficiently experienced and expert in the field.
With new panel members we can achieve this in a cost-effective way ensuring the Government can call on an excellent a pool of counsel which will get the best value for taxpayers’ money.
The Attorney and Solicitor General (Law Officers) already maintains four panels of junior counsel to undertake civil and EU advocacy work for all government departments, with the assistance of the Treasury Solicitor’s department.
At the beginning of this month applications were invited for barristers and solicitors to join a new panel. The new Attorney General’s Public International Law Panels will be modelled on the London Civil Panel, and divided into A, B and C categories.
Background
- There are three London panels (an A panel for senior juniors, a B panel for middle juniors and a C panel for junior juniors) and a Regional panel.
- There are currently around 427 members of the Attorney General’s civil panels.
- The rates of pay are fixed. For more information see the Treasury Solicitor’s Department website
- Competition for the main panels is normally advertised in October in Counsel Magazine
- Barristers, not in Silk, from England and Wales and Northern Ireland and solicitors with a higher court advocacy qualification, as well as Scottish advocates, not in Silk, and solicitor advocates, who have suitable qualifications and experience can apply.