The Bar Council has launched a review of the selection of judges and the appointments of Queen's Council.

Bar Council chairman David Bean QC has named a working party to review judicial appointments to be led by former Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Iain Glidewell.

Other working party members include Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Secretary of the Church Appointments Commission Tony Sadler, former Law Society president Mark Sheldon, recently made silks Oba Nsugbe and Rabiner Singh and 10 other members of the Bar.

The working party will complete its work by the end of the year.

The review comes despite the Bar Council's stated support of the current system for appointing the judiciary and silks and follows criticism from solicitors and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in its 2001 report on the professions.

In the wake of criticism by the OFT in a follow-up review this April, the Lord Chancellor's Department has confirmed that it will review the appointment of QCs.

"We should not rule out any improvements [to the QC system]… to make the system work better for justice and in the public interest," Bean said.