Chair: Martin Forde QC
Speakers: Martin Forde QC, Claire Thurlow (Senior Stakeholder Engagement & Diversity Manager the JAC), Judge Noel Arnold (District Tribunal Judge Social Entitlement Chamber)
Description: At this seminar, our speakers will provide information on diversity and quality initiatives, details of support available to applicants and a first hand overview of the application process and experience.
The seminar will be chaired by Martin Forde QC who will discuss why professional discipline and regulatory lawyers have the skillset for a judicial career.
Claire Thurlow (Senior Stakeholder Engagement & Diversity Manager the JAC) will explain the role of the JAC and an overview of selection processes, explaining the eligibility requirements for judicial office and processes for ensuring fair selection.
She will provide tips and guidance on preparing for an application, a look at what additional support prospective candidates can access if they do want to consider applying for judicial posts , the support that can be offered by targeted outreach teams and other prep work such as volunteering to be a dry run candidate that can all help candidates to get a better understanding of what the selection processes feels like.
Judge Noel Arnold will provide his first hand experience of having been selection processes for a fee paid and salaried post and will provide an overview of the work of the newly formed Judicial Office Diversity Taskforce
This seminar will take place remotely, on an appropriate platform. Those signing up will be provided with a link in advance of the seminar. Please note that the seminar is open to members only and you will be asked to confirm that you are a member before joining the event.
Speaker Profiles
Martin Forde QC
Martin has a practice which covers all aspects of Health Law. He appears regularly in all the Regulatory and Disciplinary tribunals predominantly for practitioners including doctors, dentists, osteopaths, chiropractors and optometrists. He is currently acting as the Independent Advisor to the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Martin has acted for the General Medical Council and the General Dental Council. He has appeared in a number of major cases in the Privy Council and has been involved in medical related judicial review hearings in the Administrative Court as well as judicial review hearings involving mental health and immigration issues. His clinical negligence and personal injury practice is exclusively undertaken in the High Court involving injuries of maximum severity. His experience of Inquests is extensive particularly in cases involving a mental health element. He has appeared on many occasions in the Employment Tribunal acting for NHS Trusts and medical practitioners. He has appeared in internal Trust and PCT hearings .
The Forde Inquiry – Martin has been appointed to undertake an independent investigation into the circumstances and contents of a report into antisemitism within the Labour Party by the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party.
Martin was appointed Recorder of the Crown Court in 2009 and is one of the longest serving JAC commissioners, being in post from 2012 to 2018
Claire Thurlow
Claire joined the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) in July 2020 and works as the JAC’s Senior Stakeholder Engagement and Diversity Manager, leading on diversity policy. Claire coordinates engagement with the full range of JAC stakeholders and partners to develop a strong and diverse candidate pool, and ensures that selection processes are fair and free from bias. Prior to this Claire worked as a JAC Selection Exercise Manager and has a background in communications, most recently working for the Local Government Association as a Communications Improvement Advisor for councils across England and Wales.
Judge Noel Arnold
Noel is a District Tribunal Judge (DTJ) in the Social Entitlement Chamber (Social Security and Child Support). He was previously a fee-paid judge in the same jurisdiction.
Noel trained and qualified as a solicitor specialising in children law and has authored a number of articles and books on children law. He worked in social welfare law firms and a law centre. Before becoming a DTJ he was the Director of Legal Practice at a national children’s charity where he managed a team of lawyers working for and on children’s rights issues. During his career as a solicitor, Noel held a number of committee roles, including Co-chair of the Association of Lawyers for Children and member of the Law Society’s Children Law Sub-committee. He won the inaugural Children’s Rights award at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2015, was an independent adjudicator for the Legal Aid Agency and a Truth Project facilitator for the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.