New Chair of CLC appointed

20 April, 2015

• Dame Janet Paraskeva named as new Chair of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers
• Follows open recruitment process through advertising and search carried out for the CLC by an independent organisation
• Appointed for initial four year term with effect from 1 May 2015

The Council for Licensed Conveyancers has today announced that Dame Janet Paraskeva has been appointed as Chair of the Council for a four year term which is renewable once. This appointment follows the stepping down of Anna Bradley after five years leading the organisation.

Dame Janet was Chief Executive of the Law Society from 2000 to 2006, preparing it for the advent of the Legal Services Act 2007 by establishing the separation of regulatory and representative functions. She has since served as First Civil Service Commissioner, been an independent member of the Consumer Council for Water, a non-executive director of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, Chair of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission and is currently Chair of the Appointments Commission for the States of Jersey. Dame Janet was made a Privy Councillor to assist in her role as a member of the Detainee Inquiry established by the Prime Minister in 2010.

Interim Chair of the CLC and Chair of the Nominations Committee which made the appointment Jan Smith said: “We were delighted with this recruitment process, which delivered a very wide and strong field of candidates. We are especially pleased to have secured Dame Janet to chair the CLC through the next phase of its evolution. Her experience of the legal sector, consumer affairs and Whitehall will be of immense value to the CLC as will her experience of management and of non-executive roles in very high profile organisations.”

Dame Janet Paraskeva said: “I am looking forward to working with the Council and staff of the CLC. The team, along with my predecessor Anna Bradley, have set a clear strategy for the organisation. There is much now to be done to ensure that this specialist regulator of legal services can increase its support for innovation and growth in the legal sector for the benefit of consumers as well as providing an alternative model of regulation to inform change across the legal sector.”