The Selection Panel

Douglas Board is an executive coach and an expert on leadership and selection, in which he completed his doctorate. Previously he was a Treasury civil servant and then deputy chairman of the executive search firm Saxton Bampfylde. He has led many pioneering leadership appointments relating to merit, diversity and the law, including on the foundation of the Judicial Appointments Commission and its audit-based predecessor. He was a trustee and then treasurer of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund and chair of the British Refugee Council. He is the author of two applied research books on leadership, two novels and in 2021 a book about elites and glass ceilings. He is a visiting professor at the University of Chichester and co-chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass).

Matthew Chapman KC was called to the Bar in 1994 and took silk in 2017. He is a Barrister in full-time practice at Deka Chambers in London. Matthew is a personal injury practitioner with particular interests in cross-border disputes/travel matters and employers’ liability actions. He acts for Claimants and Defendants (insurers, travel companies, air/sea carriers and public authorities). He was formerly a fee-paid Employment Judge and now sits as a Recorder (Crime) on the south-eastern circuit. He has, for many years, has been a co-author of Munkman on Employers’ Liability and Saggerson on Travel Law and Litigation.

Paul Grant has been a Director of an Independent Fostering Agency since 2012. He has previously worked as an Independent workplace investigator, investigating matters relating to staff grievances and disciplinary issues.

He has been a non-executive director since 2007, acting in this role for a Probation Trust, two housing associations, a regeneration company, and a social enterprise health provider. He was a non-executive director of Cafcass (Children and Families Court Advisory Support Service) between 2015 – 2023. Paul sits as a Lay Chair/Lay Panel member on Professional Conduct panels for a number of professional regulatory bodies including: Farriers Registration Council;  General Osteopathic Council; Bar Standards Board; Social Work England; Nursing & Midwifery Council; British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy; the Registration Council for Clinical Physiology; Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy; and the Taxation Disciplinary Board. Paul also sits on the Test of Competence Assurance Advisory group for the Nursing and Midwifery Council. He has a Masters degree in Training & Human Resource Management.

Diana Luchford CB has had an extensive career as a senior public servant, most recently as Chief Executive Officer of the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) which oversees the Metropolitan Police and delivers services across London to tackle crime and support victims. Previously she was a senior civil servant at the Home Office and has worked for many years within and alongside the Criminal Justice System including in HM Prison Service and at the Ministry of Justice. She has participated in  many senior appointment selection panels and has a proven track record in promoting equality, diversity and inclusion, particularly at MOPAC and in a previous role as Senior Director of the Windrush Reform Programme at the Home Office.

John Montague qualified as a solicitor in 1995. He has worked in criminal law for almost 30 years. For the past 20 years he has worked for the Crown Prosecution Service. He is a higher court advocate and has held senior leadership positions with the Crown Prosecution Service.

John played a significant part in the CPS Advocate Panel across the Western Circuit and has delivered workshops to barristers nationally.

John is currently the Unit Head of a Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit and Area lead for supporting Victim and Witnesses.

Sir Paul Morgan was a High Court Judge, assigned to the Chancery Division, from 2007 to 2021. He is now an arbitrator and mediator practising from Wilberforce Chambers, Lincoln’s Inn, London.

Sara Nathan is a broadcast journalist by background, first at the BBC and then as Editor of Channel 4 News – the first woman to edit a network news programme in the UK. Since 1998 she has combined roles in journalism, regulation and public policy. She has held a range of positions relating to appointments including as a Judicial Appointments Commissioner and as a Public Appointments Assessor at the Cabinet Office. She currently chairs fitness to practice tribunals for Social Work England.

In 2015 she co-founded Refugees at Home to match generous hosts with asylum-seekers and refugees in need. It has now made more than 5,000 placements and hosted for more than 500,000 individual person nights.

Dame Anne Rafferty retired from the Court of Appeal in July 2020. As a silk at the criminal Bar she was from 1989-1997 Secretary, Vice Chairman, then Chairman of the Criminal Bar Association. She was the only barrister member of the Runciman Commission on criminal justice. She was de facto Chairman of the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission and Chairman of the Judicial College.  She is Chancellor of the University of Sheffield.

Mena Ruparel qualified as a solicitor in 1998, she is the immediate past Chair of the Law Society family committee having previously been Chief Assessor of the Law Society family law accreditations. She is interested in legal education and has been a visiting lecturer at the University of the West of England and more recently at the University of Law. Mena has authored a number of legal publications for the Law Society, Bath Publishing and CILEX law school. She was the Chief Examiner of the CILEX Family Law level 6 examination for a number of years.

Mena is a well-known speaker and commentator on the subjects of both family law and legal ethics. In 2021 she won the Law Society award for Excellence in Promoting High Ethical Standards with the co-author of her book on ethics for solicitors.

Mena volunteers regularly, this includes delivering food parcels for those in need for a local charity and recording the local news for distribution to visually impaired residents.

Sultana Tafadar KC has an extensive, high profile practice across counter terrorism and national security, criminal justice, human rights, public law and public international law.

She advises and acts for individuals, States, NGOs, multinational corporations and other national and international bodies, appearing in courts at all levels. She holds a number of national and international human rights-related appointments, including Chair of the Bar Standards Board Taskforce on Religion & Belief; and the Advisory Board of Influencing Corridors of Power (ICOP), SOAS, University of London, She is a Council Member for JUSTICE; Member of Legal Expert Advisory Panel for Fair Trials International (LEAP); Special Advisor on Human Rights for the Oxford Initiative for Global Ethics and Human Rights; Member of the Detention Experience Community of Avocat Sans Frontieres (ASF); the Roster for Criminal Justice Sector Experts dealing with Counter-Terrorism, Organisation for Security & Cooperation in Europe. (OSCE) and Founder of Girls Human Rights Hub.

She previously worked at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International (AI) in the Africa Program; the Middle East Program; and the International Justice Project of the International Law Program.