Frances Patterson QC appointed Law Commissioner
15 December 2009
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Jack Straw announced today the appointment of Frances Patterson QC as a Law Commissioner for a period of five years.
Frances Patterson will succeed Kenneth Parker QC who has been appointed a High Court judge.
Jack Straw said:
'I am delighted to announce the appointment of Frances Patterson QC as Law Commissioner. She is an extremely talented and successful member of the legal profession and will be of enormous benefit to the Law Commission. I look forward to working with her.'
Notes to editors
- Frances Patterson QC is Head of Kings Chambers in Manchester and Leeds and also Head of the Public Law Department within chambers. In 2008 she was appointed Deputy High Court Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division, authorised to sit in the Administrative Court.
- Miss Patterson is a leading practioner in all aspects of town and country planning, environmental law, compulsory purchase and compensation, highways, education, administrative law and community care law.
- She has chaired an Independent Inquiry established by the Strategic Health Authority into lessons to be learned by the various agencies involved with a mentally ill mother who killed her own daughter.
- The Law Commission is an advisory non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and established by the Law Commissions Act 1965. It exists to keep the law of England and Wales under review and to recommend reform where needed. Its recommendations are designed to make the law as fair, modern, simple and cost effective as possible.
- The Law Commission consists of five Commissioners, one of whom is the Chairman. They are recruited from holders of judicial office, barristers or solicitors, or teachers of law in a university.
- Each Commissioner is responsible for a specialist area of law. Frances Patterson will be responsible for leading the Commission’s work on public law.
- Miss Patterson will take over as a Law Commissioner from Kenneth Parker QC, who has been appointed a High Court judge and left the Commission on 30 September 2009.
- Frances Patterson’s appointment will run from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2014. The salary for the post is £123,460.
- Appointments to the office of Law Commissioner are made in accordance with the Code of Practice for Ministerial Appointments issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments (the OCPA Code).
- All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity (if any declared) to be made public.
- Under the OCPA Code holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interests. Candidates are required to declare any political activity in so far as it is already in the public domain during the past five years. Frances Patterson has declared that she has not undertaken any political activity in the past five years.
Sign up for news updates
Enter email:
