Keynote speaker and workshop lead
Fiona was appointed an Employment Judge in 2000, a salaried Judge in 2007 and the Regional Employment Judge for Midlands (West) in 2011. And in October 2018, she was appointed the Senior President of Tribunal's principle Judge for Strategy and Implementation.
Fiona was a leadership judge for 17 salaried and 20 fee paid employment judges as well as 100 lay members. Following her appointment to Senior President of Tribunal's Principal Judge for Strategy and Implementation, Fiona shared her Regional Employment judge role for two years.
In December 2020 Fiona was appointed as the Chamber President for the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation chamber of the First-tier Tribunal having spent 2 years previously on secondment to the Chamber, latterly as their Acting Chamber President.
Prior to taking up full-time judicial roles, Fiona worked as a solicitor spending the whole of her career, once qualified, working for a Law Centre and specialising in employment and discrimination law. For the latter part of her employment at the Law Centre, Fiona was the Senior Solicitor and part of the senior management team. Whilst working at the Law Centre and sitting as a fee-paid employment judge, she also worked as a part-time adjudicator for the Solicitors' Regulation Authority - making first instance decisions for the Education and Training Unit.
Fiona has been a Diversity and Community Regulations Judge since 2013 and is a mentor and role model judge. She sits on the Tribunals Diversity Task Force and is Tribunals' Lead for Appraisals. She has also mentored the Law Society, CILEX, the Migrant Leaders' Charity, the Girls' Network and the MOJ's social mobility scheme.
From September 2017 to 2019, she was a Commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission. Her extensive career has given her lots of experience of judicial recruitment both as a candidate, on interview panels and as a JAC Commissioner.