The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointment of 15 lay members of judicial disciplinary panels (Judicial Conduct Investigations Office) for 5 years from 1 July 2023. The members are:
Ciara McGarry, Colin Stott, David Abbott, Dorota Ferguson, Emma Moir, Isabel Gouveia-Lima, Isobel Leaviss, Jacqui Francis, Judith Webb, Lynne Vernon, Margaret Prythergch, Michael Maguire, Sarah Scott, Suzy Walton and Trudy Morrice.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) supports the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice in considering complaints about the personal conduct of judicial office holders. Disciplinary panels, composed of judges and lay members, play an important part in considering the most serious cases of alleged misconduct by judicial office holders.
The appointments were made by the Lord Chancellor after consulting the Lord Chief Justice.
Appointments to the JCIO are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and recruitment processes comply with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.
Biographies
Michael Maguire
Dr Maguire is a former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. He is currently a Lay Member of the Select Committee on Standards (London) and a Lay Member of the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (Dublin). He has provided expert advice on police oversight to Yoorrook Commission (Melbourne) and Queensland Commission on policing and family violence (Brisbane).
Lynne Vernon
Mrs Lynne Vernon is a retired Detective Chief Inspector. During her 30 years' service with Greater Manchester Police she managed public protection, counter corruption and homicide investigation units. She now undertakes roles as a lay member of the General Dental Council, the General Chiropractic Council , Social Work England and the Royal college of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
David Abbott
Mr Abbott is CEO, The Free Representation Unit. He sits as a Member of the Legal Services Consumer Panel and Lay Member of statutory committees for the General Optical Council.
Isobel Leaviss
Ms Leaviss holds a number of regulatory adjudicator and disciplinary committee member roles including: Council of Licensed Conveyancers and Solicitors Regulation Authority Adjudicator; Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales, General Pharmaceutical Council and Nursing and Midwifery Council Lay Member.
Jacqui Francis
Ms Francis is an Independent Consultant at Adina May Consulting and a former Citizen Representative - for Birmingham City Council Independent Renumeration Panel. Other current non-executive roles include: Independent Complaints Board Lay Member; Labour Party and; Independent Member of the Bar Standards Board Selection Panels.
Isabel Gouveia-Lima
Dr Gouveia-Lima was previously Chief Controls Officer at HSBC UK and Nationwide Building Society, as well as Head of Compliance at HSBC UK Commercial Banking and Director of Regulatory Compliance, Conduct & Operational Risk for TSB Bank plc.
Colin Stott
Mr Stott is the Director of his own company and undertakes a variety of work including acting as a strategic advisor for National Police Chief's Council Serious and Organised Crime Portfolio and as a Deployable Civilian Expert on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.
Margaret Prythergch
Ms Prythergch was previously a civil servant, working in the Cabinet Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. She was Chief Assessor for the Civil Service Fast Stream (FS) scheme and still participates in FS assessment centres. She serves as a: Judicial Appointments Commission Panel Chair and independent member and is a member of the Parole Board.
Suzy Walton
Dr Suzy Walton is Chartered as a Director, an Occupational Psychologist and a Scientist. She has a portfolio of board roles and is a former senior civil servant in the MoD and the Cabinet Office. She is also the former Vice President of the Royal Society of Medicine and former Vice Chair of the Royal Society of Arts.
Dorota Ferguson
Dorota Ferguson is a Clinical Scientist, Chartered Scientist and Medical Physics Expert in the nuclear medicine area. Dorota is a registered tribunal member with the Health and Care Professions Council, lay member for the Registration Appeals Panel of the General Medical Council and a Revalidation Reviewer for the General Pharmaceutical Council.
Ciara McGarry
Ms McGarry is an Executive Support Officer for Meridian Home Start Ltd and a former Business Assistant for Arup (Ove Arup & Partners Ltd).
Emma Moir
Ms Moir is a Director in government financial services, having previously worked at a senior operational level in healthcare and in Senior Civil Service roles. She has considerable experience of judicial and quasi-judicial roles and currently holds appointments on tribunals, professional conduct, and advisory committees
Trudy Morrice
Ms Morrice is Owner and Director of Hanson HR Consulting, providing HR consultancy, operational support and project management services to different businesses in a range of sectors. She was previously HR Director for Mitsubishi Chemical.
Sarah Scott
Ms Scott is an Assistant Director at the Parliamentary and Health Services Ombudsman and an Associate Ombudsman at the Financial Ombudsman Service. She was previously Head of Investigations and Enforcement - Phone Paid Services Authority.
Judith Webb
Ms Judith Webb MBE is an existing JCIO Lay Panel Member and holds other appointments including member of the Intellectual Property Regulation Board Disciplinary Panel.
