Structure of a Competition

Structure of a Competition 

JABS fulfils its statutory responsibility to recommend individuals for judicial office through a series of selection exercises, referred to as competitions.

Appointment to judicial office is a competitive process. While the details vary depending on the judicial office being recruited for, all competitions follow six broad stages:

1.    Planning
2.    Advertising and applications
3.    Sift
4.    Consultations
5.    Interview
6.    Recommendation

Competitions are undertaken by a panel of JABS Board members. Depending on the role being recruited, panels may also include lay or legal appointments advisers or tribunal members.

For court and legal tribunal roles, panels are chaired by a lay member and include an equal number of lay and legal or judicial members. For some tribunal competitions, specialist tribunal members may sit on the panel to provide subject-matter expertise. 

Starting a Competition

A competition begins when JABS receives an official request from the Scottish Government to recruit for a judicial office.
The request sets out key information about the recruitment exercise, including:

•    the judicial office being recruited for
•    the number of vacancies
•    the location of vacancies (where applicable)

JABS also receives a Role Profile which describes the particular judicial office and the requirements for it, along with helpful information about the role including terms and conditions and statements from sitting judicial office holders.

Once the request has been received, planning for the competition begins. 

Planning and Outreach

Early in the planning stage, a competition panel of either four or six members (depending on the office being recruited for) is established by JABS Chairing Member and the assessment approach is developed.

Working with the Judicial Office for Scotland and other stakeholders, the panel identifies the qualities, skills and experience required for the role. It then designs assessment methods that will enable applicants to demonstrate their suitability throughout the recruitment process.

The panel is supported by the JABS Business Management Unit, which helps prepare application materials and interview documentation.

JABS may also undertake outreach activity before applications open. This may include online information events, videos published on the JABS Youtube channel, or a combination of both. These activities are intended to help potential applicants understand the role and the recruitment process. 

Advertising and Applications

All competitions are normally advertised for four weeks.

Applications are submitted through the JABS online recruitment portal, GetGot. Applicants can save their progress and return to their application as often as they wish before submitting it.

Applications usually close at 12 noon on the advertised closing date. Applicants who have started an application will receive automated reminders before the deadline.

JABS does not normally accept late applications. Further information is available in the Late Applications Policy. 

Sift

After applications close, JABS first checks that applicants meet any statutory eligibility requirements for the role.

Applications that meet these requirements proceed to the sift stage, where they are assessed against the published criteria for the role.

To support a fair assessment process, panel members do not see applicants' names or other identifying information during the sift.

For court and legal tribunal roles, legal competence is assessed by the legal or judicial members of the panel, while personal and judicial qualities are assessed collectively by the full panel. For tribunal roles requiring specialist knowledge, specialist panel members contribute to the assessment.

Once all applications have been considered, the panel decides which candidates will be invited to interview.

Depending on the size of the competition, this stage may take several days or several weeks to complete.

More information about how decisions are reached can be found in our guide to the decision-making process.
 

[Potential to have a video of a Board member speaking about the sift process here]

Consultations

As part of its statutory responsibilities, JABS must be satisfied that anyone recommended for appointment is of good character.

To support this assessment, JABS consults a range of organisations and professional bodies, including the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Law Society of Scotland, the Faculty of Advocates and, where relevant, other bodies connected to the role being recruited.

Consultees are invited to provide any information that may be relevant to an applicant's suitability for judicial office. Where information is received that may be relevant to the panel's assessment, applicants will be given an opportunity to respond to it during their interview.

Candidates invited to interview must also complete an Enhanced Disclosure check through Disclosure Scotland. The disclosure costs £25 and must be paid by the candidate. Before the disclosure can be submitted, the JABS Business Management Unit will carry out an identity check, usually through a short MS Teams meeting.

In addition, JABS arranges social media and wider media background checks through its screening partner, Giant Screening.

Interviews

Interviews provide the panel with an opportunity to explore candidates' suitability for judicial office in greater depth.

Interviews assess candidates' legal knowledge and skills or, for ordinary tribunal roles, relevant specialist knowledge and skills. The panel will also assess the personal and judicial qualities required for the role.

Interviews may be used to explore information provided in the application form, clarify issues arising during the consultation process, and examine evidence against the published criteria.

The format of interviews varies depending on the role being recruited. However, all interviews include an assessment of the knowledge, skills and qualities required for effective performance in office.

Interview length also varies by role. Most interviews last between two and five hours.

Recommendations

Following the interviews, the panel considers all of the information gathered during the competition and decides which candidates should be recommended for appointment.

Recommendations are based on the overall evidence available to the panel. This includes performance at interview, information provided in the application form and any other relevant information obtained during the competition process.

Once the panel has reached its decisions, its recommendations are presented to the full JABS Board for approval. This enables the Board to satisfy itself that the competition has been conducted in accordance with JABS policies and procedures and provides an opportunity for Board members who were not involved in the competition to discuss the panel's decisions.

Following Board approval, the recommendations are submitted to the Scottish Government. This marks the conclusion of JABS role in the competition.

After the Competition

Although the competition concludes once recommendations have been submitted to the Scottish Government, JABS continues its work to improve future recruitment exercises.

Following each competition, JABS carries out a review to identify lessons learned and opportunities for improvement.

JABS also provides feedback to applicants who were unsuccessful at sift or interview, on request.