Jersey Law Commission: appointment of Members

STATES OF JERSEY

JERSEY LAW COMMISSION: APPOINTMENT OF MEMBERS

Presented to the States on 20th February 2026 by the Chief Minister

STATES GREFFE

2026  R.28

REPORT

Introduction

Following a recruitment process overseen by the Jersey Appointments Commission ("JAC")  the  Chief  Minister  intends  to appoint  Commissioners to  the Jersey  Law Commission ("JLC") in line with the recommendations of the interview panel and the process as outlined below.

Role of Law Commissioners

The JLC was established by an Act of the States in 1996 (see P.102/1996) and reports its findings to the Legislation Advisory Panel ("LAP/the Panel") whose membership is drawn from both executive and non-executive States Members. The Chief Minister appoints the members of the LAP.

Law Commissioners collectively identify aspects of law which they consider should be examined with a view to their development and reform, including the elimination of anomalies, the repeal of obsolete and unnecessary enactments, the reduction of the number of separate enactments and generally the simplification and modernisation of the law.

Selection Process

In 2024, the Chief Minister and the States Employment Board agreed that the JAC should oversee appointments to the JLC, consistent with its role in appointments to other bodies. This approach will ensure that all appointments comply with Appointments made by the States - revised procedures P.205–, in which the States agreed, inter alia, on a new procedure for certain appointments, including those involving the JLC.

The role was advertised locally in the Jersey Law Society website and on the "Leading our Island" careers site on gov.je.

The interview panel consisted of:

• Julia Therezien – Commissioner, Jersey Appointments Commission,

• Charlotte Brambilla – Chair, Jersey Law Commission

• Alan Binnington – Commissioner, Royal Court of Jersey

• Paul Bradbury, Head of the Ministerial Office, Government of Jersey

Period of Appointment

The  appointments  shall commence 2  weeks  from the  day  on  which  this  report is presented to the States and for a period of 3 years. The Chief Minister would like to thank the outgoing Commissioners (insert names) for their expertise and contribution.

Appointees

• Claire Davies

• Dennis Dixon

• John Bisson

• Nicole Langlois

• Richard Holden

• Simon Thomas

• James Angus

Appointees Biographies Claire Davies

ClaireDavieswas  called  to  the  Jersey  Bar  in  1997,  specialising  in divorce,separationand children's matters. She was a member of Jersey's children panel for many years, qualified torepresentchildren and parents in child protection cases, is a qualified family mediator and has worked with the Jersey Family Mediation Service.

Claire sat as a deputy chair of the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal between 2012 and 2020 and in addition during 2018 sat as a Family Registrar in Jersey's Royal Court.

In May 2020 Claire was appointed to the Academic Board of the Institute of Law and in April 2023 became Associate Dean (Professional Programmes).

Claire teachesstudents working towards their degree (LLB) with the University of London External Programme, and is the family law lecturer for both the Jersey Law Course and Guernsey Bar exams.

Dennis Dixon

Dr Dennis  Dixon  has  worked  in  government  law  for  over  25  years  across three jurisdictions (United Kingdom, Gibraltar, Jersey). In Jersey, he has worked in the Law Officers Department, the Jersey Financial Services Commission, and Revenue Jersey.

He also has considerable academic experience, having a doctorate in human rights and constitutional law, He has taught the Jersey Legal System paper for the Jersey Law Course since 2020. He also wrote the Constitutional Study Guides for both Guernsey and the Isle of Man, being the examiner in the latter course. He has also taught several subjects to law undergraduates at the Institute of Law since 2015 and is currently the teacher of jurisprudence. Finally, he has been a Member of the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review since 2015, to which he has contributed many articles on a wide range of topics.

John Bisson

John Bisson is a Partner within and leads the Property department in Jersey. He joined Appleby in 1971 and first became a partner when he qualified as a Jersey Solicitor in 1987.

John specialises firstly in property law matters where he is widely acknowledged as one of  the  leading  practitioners  on  the  island. He  also  has  a  focused  interest  in wills, probate and  succession law  generally, where he too  enjoys  a  reputation  as  a leading practitioner.

Nicole Langlois

Nicole Langlois has a broad commercial Chancery practice with a particular focus on cases which have a multi-jurisdictional aspect. Her main areas of specialisation are contentious  trust  matters,  company  and  shareholder  disputes,  contract claims and professional negligence. She has particular experience of advising in relation to the complex  conflicts  of  laws  issues  which  often  arise  in  cases  involving multiple jurisdictions.

Nicole is one of only a small number of barristers practising at the Bar in London who is  also  called  to  the  Bar  in  Jersey.  By  reason  of  Nicole's  qualification  as  a Jersey Advocate she is also often instructed to provide expert evidence on Jersey law for use in foreign proceedings.

Richard Holden

Richard Holden has more than 25 years' specialising in complex contentious trusts matters  and  commercial  disputes,  including  injunctions,  fraud,  asset tracing, enforcement and insolvency. He is also an expert in applying traditional Jersey customary law to modern commercial disputes.

Richard is an experienced trial and appellate advocate with experience in England, internationally and offshore and has been called to the bars of Jersey, England and Wales, New Zealand and New South Wales. He is also a Visiting Professor of Trusts Law at the Institute of Law.

Simon Thomas

Simon  Thomas  is  an  English  Barrister  and  Jersey  Advocate  and an experienced trial lawyer.

His 30 years of experience includes acting for the prosecution and the defence in criminal and regulatory matters, as well as cases with an international aspect spanning diverse areas of law including asset tracing and fraud tied to both commercial and trust disputes, Proceeds of Crime investigations (particularly in relation to frozen funds), employment  disputes,  and family  and  matrimonial law. He  has  acted  for  both  the prosecution and defence in serious crime matters, ranging from homicide and fraud cases to cases involving historic sexual offending. On cross-border matters he has been

instructed by governments, enforcement agencies, corporations and individuals from across the world.

Simon is also Director of Baker Regulatory Services Limited. James Angus

James Angus is a specialist in contentious corporate engagements and represents both institutional and individual clients in complex commercial and chancery matters. James has acted in some of the highest profile corporate, insolvency and asset recovery disputes in Jersey of the last ten years including high-value shareholder disputes, as well as proceedings for and against directors and other fiduciaries.

As  part  of  the  Restructuring  and  Insolvency  team,  James represents insolvency practitioners and creditors in recognition and complex asset recovery in corporate insolvencies. He regularly represents trustees and other fiduciaries in contentious trust law matters, particularly those with a corporate, directors' duties and cross-border element. James is also leading practitioner in Jersey schemes of arrangement.

James  is  a  leading  expert  in  deferred  prosecution  agreements,  having advised the Government of Jersey on the ambit and drafting of the Criminal Justice (Deferred Prosecution Agreements) (Jersey) Law 2023.