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 appointed Local Government Boundaries Commissioner on 1 July 2008 and submitted his Final Recommendations to the Minister of the Environment on 22 June 2009. On 1st July 2009 he took up the position of District Electoral Areas Commissioner for Northern Ireland.
Dr William Smith, has worked as an independent adviser on public policy issues since leaving the civil service. In 2003 he was appointed as a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Governance, Public Policy and Social Research at Queen’s University Belfast. He has previously served as Secretary to the Independent Water Review Panel (2007-2008) 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 (2006 - 2012), and as an independent member of Belfast City Council’s Audit and Risk Management Panel (2008 - 2010). He is Chairman of the Voluntary Service Bureau and a non-executive Director of the Early Years Organisation.
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