A Queen's Counsel, or King's Counsel during the reign of a king, is an eminent lawyer who is appointed by the monarch to be one of "Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law." The term is recognised as an honorific. The position exists in some Commonwealth jurisdictions around the world, but other Commonwealth countries have either abolished the position, or re-named it to eliminate monarchical connotations, such as "Senior Counsel" or "Senior Advocate". Queen's Counsel is an office, conferred by the Crown, that is recognised by courts. Members have the privilege of sitting within the bar of court.
A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executives advisory body associated with a head of state. In some countries it also has a function as a supreme administrative court and sometimes regarded as the equivalent of a privy council.
Chancellor is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the audience. A chancellor's office is called a chancellery or chancery. The word is now used in the titles of many various officers in all kinds of settings. Nowadays the term is most often used to describe:
Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, PC, QC, is a British Labour peer and barrister.
Public bodies of the Scottish Government are organisations that are funded by the Scottish Government. It is a tightly meshed network of executive and advisory non-departmental public bodies ("quangoes"); tribunals; and nationalised industries.
Sir Mark Howard Potter PC QC is a retired English judge who was President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice for England and Wales from 2005 to 2010.
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation is a court within the judiciary of Russia and the court of last resort in Russian administrative law, civil law and criminal law cases. It also supervises the work of lower courts. Its predecessor is the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union.
The Civic Forum for Northern Ireland was a consultative body in Northern Ireland created in 2000 under the Good Friday Agreement and consisting of members of various civil bodies. It had no legislative or governmental powers. It last met in 2002. The 2014 Stormont House Agreement envisages recreation of the forum on a smaller scale with the title Civic Advisory Panel.
The Legal Services Board is an independent body responsible for overseeing the regulation of lawyers in England and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Ministry of Justice, created through the Legal Services Act of 2007.
Sir Donnell Justin Patrick Deeny, styled as The Rt Hon Lord Justice Deeny, is a member of the Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland.
The Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the legal profession and Courts of England and Wales. The Act was the culmination of a series of reports and reforms that started with the Benson Commission in the 1970s, and significantly changed the way that the legal profession and court system worked.
The Authorised Conveyancing Practitioners Board is the regulatory organisation and professional association for authorised conveyancers in the United Kingdom. Created in 1990 by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, the Practitioners Board oversees authorised conveyancers in the United Kingdom, advising the Lord Chancellor on conveyancing matters, regulating authorised conveyancers and preventing the creation of conveyancing monopolies like those that existed before the 1990 act.
The Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct (ACLEC) was an advisory board established by the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 and tasked with assisting in "the maintenance and development of standards in the education, training and conduct of those offering legal services". It was broken up in 1999, and replaced by the Legal Services Consultative Panel.
The Royal Commission on Legal Services, commonly known as the Benson Commission was a Royal Commission set up by the Labour government of Harold Wilson to "examine the structure, organisation, training and regulation of the legal profession and to recommend those changes that would be desirable to the interests of justice". The Commission and its report are seen as one of the elements that lead to the passing of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. Executive agencies are "machinery of government" devices distinct both from non-ministerial government departments and non-departmental public bodies, each of which enjoy a real legal and constitutional separation from ministerial control. The model was also applied in several other countries.
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales was established in April 2010, replacing the Sentencing Guidelines Council and the Sentencing Advisory Panel, its predecessor bodies.
Following the 2010 United Kingdom general election, the UK Government announced plans to curb public spending through the abolition of a large number of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations (quangos). On 23 May 2010, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne unveiled a £500million plan to reduce the budget deficit by abolishing or merging many quangos. This was styled in the national press as a "bonfire of the quangos", making reference to Girolamo Savonarola's religiously inspired Bonfire of the Vanities. The cuts and closures received criticism in some quarters, but was generally welcomed by the business community.
In the legal system of England and Wales, there is a history of involving lay people, namely people from the local community who are not required to hold any legal qualifications, in the judicial decision-making process of the courts. They are called justices of the peace or magistrates.
Tan Sri Zakri bin Abdul Hamid has had a distinguished career in science as a researcher, educator, administrator and diplomat.
