There are five Commissioners, all of whom work full-time at the Commission.
The Chairman is either a High Court or an Appeal Court judge, appointed to the Commission for up to three years. The other four Commissioners are experienced judges, barristers, solicitors or teachers of law. They are appointed by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice for up to five years, although their appointments may be extended.
The Commissioners are supported by a Chief Executive and about 20 members of the Government Legal Service, two Parliamentary Counsel (who draft the Bills to reform and consolidate the law), and a number of research assistants, who are usually recently qualified law graduates.
Chairman
The Chairman promotes the role and work of the Law Commission and is its principal public face. He or she leads the Commissioners and represents their views to Ministers and other stakeholders. The Chairman also leads on particular law reform projects and has special responsibility for overseeing the Commission's consolidation and statute law repeals work.
The Right Honourable Lord Justice (Sir James) Munby
Sir James has been Chairman since 1 August 2009. He was called to the Bar in 1971 and appointed a QC in 1988. He was made a High Court Judge (Family Division) in 2000 and appointed to the Court of Appeal on 30 September 2009.
Commissioners
Professor Elizabeth Cooke heads the Property, Family and Trust Law team
David Hertzell heads the Commercial and Common Law team
Professor David Ormerod heads the Criminal Law team
Frances Patterson QC heads the Public Law team
Code of Best Practice for Law Commissioners
Our Commissioners follow a Code of Best Practice which incorporates the principles in the Cabinet Office Code of Best Practice for Board Members of Public Bodies.
Chief Executive
Elaine Lorimer
Elaine Lorimer, formerly Director of Corporate Services at the National School of Government, joined the Commission as Chief Executive on 16 January 2012.
Mrs Lorimer is a Scottish solicitor and public finance accountant. She has operated at Board level in central and local government as a legal adviser and more recently held accountability for corporate functions, including Finance, ICT and HR. She also has strong links with the Government Legal Service.
Structure of the Law Commission
This chart shows the structure of the organisation and the pay bands into which our staff fall.