Commission Members
The Hon Mr Justice McLaughlin was educated at Christian Brothers' Grammar School, St Mary's, Belfast, Queen's University and Strathclyde University. He was called to the Bars of Northern Ireland (1971), England and Wales (Gray's Inn 1974), King's Inn Dublin (1978) and New South Wales (1992) and was appointed as Queen's Counsel in 1985. The judge is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and he has served as Chairman of the Bar Council of Northern Ireland and the Bar European Law Group. He was appointed a Judge of the Queen's Bench Division on 6 September 1999.
Richard Mackenzie, CB retired from the Northern Ireland Senior Civil Service in 2002 having been an administrator in the field of town and country planning. His contribution to planning in Northern Ireland was recognised by the Royal Town Planning Institute in 2000 when he was made an Honorary Member of the Institute. Immediately prior to retirement, he was Joint Secretary of the North/South Ministerial Council. Mr. Mackenzie was the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner for Northern Ireland during two periods in 2006/7 and 2008/9. He was the District Electoral Areas Commissioner for Northern Ireland from July 2009 to June 2010.
Dr William Smith, has worked as an independent adviser on public policy issues since leaving the Senior Civil Service in 2004. In 2009 he was appointed as a Senior Research Fellow at the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy at Queen's University Belfast. He has previously served as Secretary to the Independent Water Review Panel and as an Assistant Commissioner to the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner (2007 and 2008). He currently holds appointments as the Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (since 2006), and as an independent member of Belfast City Council's Audit and Risk Management Panel (since 2008). He is Chairman of the Early Years Organisation and Voluntary Service Bureau, and a non-executive Director of Volunteer Now.
