Names Of New Members Announced

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal is delighted to announce that the Master of The Rolls, The Right Honourable Lord Dyson, on 19 October 2015 approved the appointment of 15 new Solicitor Members and 4 new Lay Members to the Tribunal.

Lord Dyson was satisfied to make the appointments in line with the Appointment Panel’s recommendations, and on the basis of a well-conducted competition operated in line with the 2012 Protocol, the Equality Act 2010 and best practice for appointments.

Mr Andrew Spooner, President of the Tribunal, was Chairman of the Appointment Panel for this competition and said:-

“I am delighted to say that following a recruitment competition conducted under the Master of the Rolls Appointment Protocol 2012, the Master of the Rolls on 19 October 2015 approved the appointment of 15 Solicitor and 4 Lay Members to the SDT. The quality of those who have been appointed is extremely high and Members and staff of the Tribunal very much look forward to working with our new colleagues in the coming months and years.”

Below is a list of new Members, their firms and/or profession:-

Solicitor Members

Mr Patrick Booth of Smith Partnership in Derbyshire

Miss Holetta Dobson of Wake Smith LLP in Sheffield

Mr William Ellerton of Eversheds in Cardiff

Mr Justin Evans of Evans Quartermaine Solicitors in Caerphilly

Mr Claude Forde of McMillan Williams Solicitors in London

Ms Angela Horne of Kennedys in London

Mr Martin Jackson of Albin & Co in Berkshire

Mr Peter Jones of Eversheds in Cardiff

Mrs Alison Kellett of BNP Paribas Bank in London

Mr Paul Lewis of DPP Law in Bootle, Liverpool

Mr Mark Millin of the General Pharmaceutical Council in London

Mr Howard Sharkett of KPMG in Manchester

Mr Timothy Smith of Ward Hadaway in Newcastle upon Tyne

Ms Carolyn Evans of Woodfines Solicitors LLP in Milton Keynes

Mr Gerald Sydenham prosecutes in Magistrates’ Courts in the North-East

Lay Members

Dr Stephanie Bown was Director of the National Clinical Assessment Service in London

Mr Paul Hurley is Consultant General Surgeon at Croydon Health Service NHS Trust

Dr Priya Iyer is a Forensic Physician based in Leicester

Mrs Carol Valentine is Highway Manager for Kent County Council

Note to Editors

The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (“the SDT”) was created by the Solicitors Act 1974 as a statutory tribunal. It is responsible for protecting the public interest and confidence in the reputation of the solicitors’ profession by adjudicating on alleged disciplinary breaches of the profession’s rules and regulations and certain appeals. The SDT is made up of Solicitor and Lay Members. Solicitor Members must be practising solicitors of not less than 10 years’ standing. Lay Members are individuals drawn from a wide and diverse range of personal and professional backgrounds who are neither solicitors nor barristers. Their task is to represent the views of the general public. In order to ensure that the SDT is both independent of, and perceived to be independent of, The Law Society (“TLS”), the approved regulator of the solicitors’ profession, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority (“the SRA”), its independent regulatory arm, individuals who are either employed by, or serve as Council or Board members of, either body cannot be appointed as either Solicitor or Lay Members of the Tribunal. Tribunal Members are appointed by the Master of the Rolls following an open and transparent selection process conducted in accordance with the published Appointment Protocol.

Further information about the Tribunal, its Constitution and its User Group Committee can be obtained from the SDT’s website at solicitorstribunal.org.uk