Elections for MPs to join the justice select committee, which oversees the work of the Ministry of Justice, produced seven lawyers out of the nine members.
Andy Slaughter, a former Labour shadow justice minister, was elected as chair by the whole House last month and the other eight members – six from Labour and two from the Conservatives – were chosen in party elections last week. Except for Mr Slaughter, all of them entered Parliament this year.
They are:
Alex Barros-Curtis (Labour, Cardiff West): He qualified and then spent four years as an associate at City giant Allen & Overy, leaving in 2015. He was a consultant solicitor specialising in derivatives and structured finance at Myriad Consultants before becoming the Labour Party’s general counsel in 2020.
Pam Cox (Labour, Colchester): She was at Essex University for nearly 28 years, becoming a professor of sociology in 2014 and head of the sociology department between 2020 and 2023.
Linsey Farnsworth (Labour, Amber Valley): She worked for 21 years as a prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service.
Sir Ashley Fox (Conservative, Bridgwater): He specialised in insurance litigation, working for 17 years at various firms in Bristol before being elected to the European Parliament in 2009, where he stayed for a decade. He set up a consulting business to advise clients on how the EU operates in 2019.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Conservative, Solihull West and Shirley): He worked initially as an army doctor before having to give up life as a surgeon for medical reasons and requalifying as a barrister specialising in healthcare law at No5 Chambers.
Warinder Juss (Labour, Wolverhampton West): Qualified for 34 years, he was a senior personal injury solicitor at Thompsons in Birmingham, supervising the firm’s West Midlands work-related stress team.
Sarah Russell (Labour, Congleton): She qualified in 2010 and has practised as an employment solicitor at various firms, as well as a stint in-house at Capita, but latterly was a consultant solicitor at Fox Whitfield and Rebel Law. She was also a part-time supervising solicitor at the Equality and Employment Law Centre.
Mike Tapp (Labour, Dover and Deal): He served in the intelligence corps before working at the National Crime Agency and later in a counter-terrorism role at the Ministry of Defence. He stood against Mr Slaughter for the chair.
Note – subsequent to this story being published, two Liberal Democrat members joined the committee:
Josh Babarinde (Lib Dem, Eastbourne): He spent his career building a social enterprise getting young people out of crime and gangs, and into employment. He was awarded an OBE for this work at the age of 26.
Tessa Munt (Lib Dem, Wells and Mendip Hills): She returned to Parliament after spending five years as the MP for Wells between 2010 and 2015. Ms Munt has had a varied career in multiple sectors, including three years working at a law firm at one point.
