Jenny Rowe is to be the first chief executive of the UK's new supreme court when it come into being in late 2009, Jack Straw, the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary, has announced.

Ms Rowe, a senior civil servant currently in the Attorney-General's department, will act in the interim as chief executive designate, working with the law lords and officials overseeing the new court's creation.

Jack Straw said: "I look forward to working with Jenny Rowe in establishing the new supreme court that will endure as a symbol of our commitment to justice and the independence of the judiciary."

The supreme court of the United Kingdom will replace the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, marking a new separation of the highest court from the legislature.

It is expected to open its doors for business in October 2009; the site that used to be occupied by Middlesex Guildhall crown court in Parliament Square is being refurbished as its location.

Ms Rowe is currently Director of Policy and Administration at the Office of the Attorney-General. Immediately before that she was the secretary to the Butterfield Review of HM Customs & Excise Investigation and Prosecution Work.

A career civil servant, she has worked for the former Lord Chancellor's department in a number of posts, including as the Director of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Director of Corporate Services Group and Principal Private Secretary to the then Lord Chancellor.

She will have responsibility for ensuring that the supreme court is managed effectively as an independent entity without jeopardising the judicial independence of its judges, to be known as justices of the supreme court.

Explore Law

• Columnists

• Law Panel

• Law Reports

• Student Law

Times Recommends

• The best legal yarns this Christmas
• Legal school 'earned £1m by exploiting bar course'
• Axe may fall on 5,000 more City lawyers