In the light of the appointment by Her Majesty The Queen of the present Deputy Bailiff as the next Bailiff of Jersey with effect from 17th October 2019 a vacancy will arise for the office of Deputy Bailiff. The Bailiff announces that the process for selecting the next Deputy Bailiff will be as set out below.
The appointment of the Deputy Bailiff is made by Her Majesty on the advice of the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. The Secretary of State will receive, through His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, a recommendation from the Bailiff which will reflect the recommendation of a Selection Panel which will comprise the present Deputy Bailiff, Mr James McNeill QC, Jurat Paul Nicolle, Mr Terry Le Sueur OBE and Dame Janet Paraskeva, Chairman of the Jersey Appointments Commission. The Deputy Bailiff and Dame Janet will act as co-chairs of the Panel.
The vacancy will be drawn to the attention of all Jersey advocates and solicitors in three ways:
There will be a formal announcement in the Royal Court on 18th January at 2.30pm.
There will be an advertisement in the recruitment section of the Jersey Evening Post on three consecutive nights.
Copies of the advertisement will be sent individually to every member of the Jersey legal profession by the Judicial Greffier.
The application period will remain open until close of business on February 15th 2019. Any person expressing an interest will be able to obtain the following from the Bailiff’s Chambers:-
A letter of explanation.
Job Description
Main terms and conditions
Application form
The material to be supplied to candidates makes it clear that the successful candidate can one day, subject to his or her performance as Deputy Bailiff and on meeting the required standards for the role, expect to become Bailiff.
Applications must be submitted to the Lieutenant Governor prior to the expiry of the application period. The Lieutenant Governor will forward the applications to the Bailiff who will then institute the selection and consultation procedure.
This task will be undertaken by the Selection Panel described above, the date for which is currently set for February 27th 2019.
The consultation process is designed to obtain as wide a spectrum of views as possible on the suitability of the candidates, based on the key qualities and abilities set out in Section D of the job description. The nature of those who are consulted is such that, between them, they will be well placed to provide an informed opinion as to whether or not an individual candidate has the necessary qualities to fulfil one or more aspects of the role.
All consultees will, prior to the consultation, be provided with the documents described at paragraph 2(i) – (iv) above and any documents submitted by the applicant in support of his or her application. Consultees will be asked to consider the candidate against the qualities and abilities set out in Section D of the job description. If it is necessary to prepare a shortlist, this task will be undertaken by the Selection Panel.
The consultee bodies or individuals are as follows:-
The Jurats
The Bâtonnier, the President of the Jersey Law Society and the President of the Chambre des Ecrivains or their nominees.
The Bailiff’s Consultative Panel.
The Chief Minister
The Crown Officers (not including any applicant)
The two local Commissioners currently sitting as judges of the Royal Court.
Following completion of the consultation process the Selection Panel will interview each of the candidates. The Selection Panel will assess the candidates against the qualities and abilities contained in Section D of the job description. The candidate will have undergone psychometric testing and completed two desktop exercises, one under time pressure.
Following the interview, the Selection Panel will choose a candidate on the basis of the interview (but informed by the consultation process) and make a recommendation as to the appointment of a candidate.
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