Lady Hale to step up as UK Supreme Court President

Baroness Hale of Richmond is to become the first woman President of the UK Supreme Court, Downing Street confirmed today.

Lady Hale, the current Deputy President of the court, will for the first time be joined by another woman Justice when she succeeds Lord Neuberger in October. The appointment of Lady Justice Black was been confirmed as one of three new Justices, along with Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Lord Justice Briggs.

The incioming President was brought up in Richmond, North Yorkshire, where she attended Richmond High School for Girls, a state grammar school. After graduating from Cambridge, Lady Hale taught law at Manchester University from 1966 to 1984, also qualifying as a barrister and practising for a while at the Manchester Bar. She specialised in family and social welfare law and was founding editor of the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law. In 1984 she was the first woman to be appointed to the Law Commission for England & Wales. She was appointed a recorder in 1989, to the High Court bench in 1994 and to the Court of Appeal in 1999.

In January 2004 Lady Hale became the first female Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, transferring to the UK Supreme Court in 2009 when it took over the appellat jurisdiction of the House of Lords. She has been Deputy President since June 2013.

Responding to her appointment she said: “It is a great honour and a challenge to be appointed to succeed Lord Neuberger. I look forward to building upon his pioneering achievements, including developing closer links with each part of the United Kingdom, for example by sitting outside London, and improving the ways in which we communicate our work to the public. Recent high-profile cases mean that more people than ever before have heard of the Supreme Court, and we hope that this will help to create a broader understanding of how the judiciary serves society.

“While I of course look forward to working alongside all my colleagues, it is a particular pleasure for me to be taking up the post at the same time as we welcome only the second ever woman to sit on the UK’s top appeal court.”

Lady Justice Black attended Penrhos College in North Wales before studying at Durham University. The first lawyer in her family, her initial career at the Bar involved a broad range of criminal and civil work, although she later specialised in family law. For a period in the 1980s she taught law at Leeds Polytechnic. She was a founding author of what is described as the definitive guide to family law practice in England & Wales, and continues to serve as a consulting editor. She was appointed to the High Court Family Division in 1999, and a Lady Justice of Appeal in 2010. She is currently the head of International Family Justice.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones was born and brought up in Pontypridd, Glamorgan where his father was a schoolteacher. He attended Pontypridd Boys’ Grammar School and Downing College, Cambridge, where he was a Fellow from 1975 to 1991. At the Bar his practice included international law, EU law and public law. He was appointed to the High Court in 2005 and to the Court of Appeal in 2012. From 2012 to 2015 he was chairman of the Law Commission for England & Wales.

Lord Justice Briggs grew up around Portsmouth and Plymouth, following his naval officer father between ships, before spending his later childhood in West Sussex. He attended Charterhouse and Magdalen College, Oxford. Also the first lawyer in his family, he practised in commercial and chancery work before being appointed to the High Court in 2006. He was the judge in charge of the extensive Lehman insolvency litigation from 2009 to 2013. He became a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2013. He was the judge in charge of the Chancery Modernisation Review in 2013, headed the Civil Courts Structure Review in 2015 to 2016, and is currently leading the implementation of its recommendations, alongside serving as the civil justice partnership lead for the HMCTS Reform Programme. In January 2016 he was appointed Deputy Head of Civil Justice.

Each of the appointments was made by the Queen on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, following the recommendations of two independent selection commissions.

Welcoming his successor's appointment, Lord Neuberger commented: “I have had the pleasure of working closely with Lady Hale over the last five years, and have seen at first hand the intellect and humanity with which she approaches the appeals which come before her, as well as her commitment to the rule of law, legal education and building public understanding of the work of the courts.

“For Lady Hale to become President of the institution to which she has contributed so much is a fitting pinnacle to a truly groundbreaking career. She is joined by three new Justices, each of whom has led a distinguished judicial career and has a huge amount to offer the court and the development of the law."

Lady Hale’s appointment also means that a new Deputy President will now be appointed. The recommendation for this appointment will come from a commission convened by the Lord Chancellor for this purpose. An announcement is expected before the start of the new legal year, on 2 October, when those appointed today will be sworn in.