New BSB Chair and Vice-Chair

The Bar Standards Board has announced, after open competition run by an Appointments Panel, that Baroness Ruth Deech has been appointed as the new Chair of the BSB and that Sir Geoffrey Nice QC will be the Vice-Chair. Baroness Deech has extensive experience of regulatory bodies, having served as Chairperson of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (1994-2002), a Governor of the BBC (2002-2006) and as the first Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (2004-8). She is an independent member of the House of Lords.

Sir Geoffrey Nice QC is a senior silk with broad practice in Common Law work. He is internationally known for his work at the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague where he led the prosecution against Slobodan Milosevic. Baroness Deech and Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, will take up their posts from 1 January 2009 in succession to Ruth Evans and George Leggatt QC.