Considering judicial appointment? A seminar for Government Legal Department
Practical guidance drawn from judicial experience
Legal professionals from the Government Legal Department are warmly invited to join this online seminar, which will explore a judicial career through the experiences of judges who have made that journey themselves.
The Judicial Diversity and Inclusion Strategy seeks to encourage talented legal professionals from diverse personal and professional backgrounds to consider a judicial career and to feel confident that they can thrive within the judiciary. In that context, we particularly hope that legal professionals from backgrounds that are currently less well represented in the judiciary will join us, but all are welcome.
The seminar will be introduced by Mel Nebhrajani CB. Mel was called to the Bar in 1994, practising in Chancery chambers where she specialised in property, charity and trusts work. Since 1999 she has worked in what is now the Government Legal Department (GLD). She was appointed Director General in 2021 and now leads GLD’s Litigation with Justice and Security Group. This includes the Litigation Directorate and the Statutory Instruments Hub, as well as the legal teams advising the Cabinet Office, Home Office, Northern Ireland Office, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Defence.
Over her career, Mel has worked leading issues including the Human Rights Act, the Devolution settlements, the Freedom of Information Act and the legal response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She was highly commended in the Asian Women of Achievement Awards 2020, appointed Companion of the Bath in the 2021 New Year’s Honours List and is on The 100 Women in Westminster list for 2026.
Judicial Speakers
Kathryn Shakespeare, District Judge. Kathryn qualified as a solicitor in a large City firm before joining what was then the Government Legal Service. She spent the majority of her career as a GLD advisory lawyer, in a variety of roles at the Ministry of Justice and the Department for Exiting the European Union. She also spent nearly three years at the Attorney General’s office, advising on domestic legislation and public law issues. Prior to her permanent judicial appointment she was the head of legal at the Judicial Office and legal adviser to the Lady Chief Justice.
Kathryn was appointed as a fee-paid Judge in the First-tier tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber in 2020 and as a District Judge in 2024, so has experienced the recruitment process as a GLD lawyer. She now hears civil claims in the County Court and immigration and asylum appeals in the first-tier tribunal.
Angela Shields, Acting Regional Tribunal Judge. Angela qualified as a solicitor in 2000, having trained with a high street practice specialising in civil litigation. The first person in her family to attend university and to enter the legal profession, she joined a commercial law practice in 2002 and subsequently became a partner in 2013. She practised in commercial employment law for almost two decades, advising and representing clients across a wide range of workplace disputes and litigation.
Angela was appointed as a salaried District Tribunal Judge in the Social Security and Child Support jurisdiction of the Social Entitlement Chamber in April 2020, having had no previous fee paid judicial experience. She was appointed Deputy Regional Tribunal Judge in 2022 and became Acting Regional Tribunal Judge for the South East region in September 2025. In her current judicial role, she has leadership responsibility for over 300 judicial office holders in the South East and hears appeals in relation to social security and child support.
Additional speaker
We will also be joined by a representative from the Judicial Appointments Commission, Upper Tribunal Judge Clive Lane, who will share up-to-date information about the application process and answer common questions.
Clive Lane, Upper Tribunal Judge. Clive was admitted as a solicitor in 1985 and was in private practice until 2001. He was a Legal Chair of the Appeals Service (now Social Entitlement Chamber) from 1999 until 2007. He was appointed a Deputy District Judge (Civil) in 2001. He served as an Immigration Judge from 2001 until 2009 when he was appointed a Judge of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). Since 2021, he has been authorised to sit as a Judge of the High Court (Family Division). In 2024, he was appointed a Justice of the Court of Appeal of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Clive was appointed to the JAC as a Senior Judicial Commissioner for a term of three years on 1 July 2025.
United Kingdom