In brief
Robert Ian Martin has been appointed President of the Social Security and Child Support Appeal Tribunal by the lord chancellor, Jack Straw. He will take over from Judge Michael Harris as of 1 November 2007. Martin is 58 and was admitted as a solicitor in 1974. He was appointed as a fee-paid chairman of the Appeal Tribunals in 1985 (then known as the Independent Tribunal Service) and was made a salaried chairman in 1995. He became regional chairman for the Midland Region in March 1998 and also served as a fee-paid immigration adjudicator between 2000 and 2004.