It used to be seen as a poisoned chalice — now it is one of the plum jobs in the criminal justice system.

Top lawyers were revising their CVs yesterday after the news that Sir Ken Macdonald, QC, is stepping down in October from his £185,000-a-year job as Director of Public Prosecutions.

Sir Ken, 55, who has already had his contract renewed once, was appointed in August 2003 and will have served more than five years in the job, which also heads the Crown Prosecution Service.

He told The Times yesterday that he hoped to combine legal practice with an academic post. “I'm mulling over a number of options and approaches — though I would be pretty interested in combining something academic with private legal work. Corporate criminal risk was a growing area for me when I left to take on this job. The lure of practice remains.”

The post, offered as a five-year fixed-term contract, is open to a senior barrister, solicitor or judge with “high-level experience in criminal cases”, according to the advertisement in The Sunday Times.

One lawyer said yesterday: “Because he's done so well, there's likely to be far more interest than in the past. Usually the candidate is a high-profile barrister [although he or she can be a solicitor] but it also involves leadership, heading an organisation 6,000-strong.”

Candidates already being tipped include Mark Ellison, QC, Senior Treasury Counsel at the Old Bailey, who recently prosecuted the royal blackmail trial; David Perry, QC, who advised the CPS over the “cash for honours” inquiry; David Green, QC, who was appointed three years ago to be the first director at the Revenue & Customs Prosecutions Office; and Andrew Hall, QC, a former chairman of the Criminal Bar Association, who, like Sir Ken, is from the radical wing of the profession.

The new appointment could also mean the first woman in the post. Contenders include Clare Montgomery, QC, a highly regarded fraud and white-collar crime expert; and Sally O'Neill, QC, chairwoman of the Criminal Bar Association.

But Sir Ken's appointment was entirely unpredicted and it is possible that his successor will also come out of left field.

There are about a dozen leading criminal silks at the top of their game at the Bar. But the post of DPP also involves politics and management, which do not come naturally to all lawyers.

Outside the Bar an obvious contender would be Stephen Parkinson, head of criminal law at the London firm Kingsley Napley. A barrister by background, he advised all the No 10 and Cabinet Office witnesses in the Hutton Inquiry and David Westwood, the Chief Constable of Humberside in the latter stages of the Bichard Inquiry. He worked in the Government Legal Service for a number of years, including in the Attorney-General's office, and is well used to the interface between politics and the law.

Sir Ken's successor will be appointed by a civil service commission panel interviewing and making a recommendation to the Attorney-General.

Sir Ken is credited widely with having turned the CPS round, and despite some problems - particularly in the magistrates' courts where there are delays and inefficiencies - he has moved it centre stage in the criminal justice system. In The Times “Law 100 list”, which was published last month and appears in Times law online, Sir Ken came fourth in the top ten most-influential lawyers.

His entry said: “When appointed in 2003, Sir Ken faced accusations of Labour cronyism ... Into the bargain he had a conviction dating from student days for sending cannabis through the post to a friend. He has proved critics wrong: he stood up to Lord Goldsmith, QC, the former Attorney-General, making clear that the decision on whether to prosecute on cash-for-honours would be for the CPS, not the Attorney. His independent stance has strengthened the DPP's role at a time when the Attorney's has been weakened. Publicity of an affair with Kirsty Brimelow, a barrister, has not proved damaging.”

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