Three Justices, including second-ever woman, appointed to UK Supreme Court

Lady Justice Black, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Lord Justice Briggs will join the top appeal court on 2 October 2017, the same day that Lady Hale is sworn in as President of the Supreme Court.

Lord Neuberger, outgoing President of the Supreme Court, said each of them “has led a distinguished judicial career and has a huge amount to offer the Court and the development of the law”.

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. She was appointed to the High Court in 1999, assigned to the Family Division. In 2004 she became the Chairman of the Judicial Studies Board’s Family Committee, until her appointment as a Judicial Appointments Commissioner in 2008, where she served until 2013. Lady Justice Black was appointed a Lady Justice of Appeal in 2010. She is currently the Head of International Family Justice.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones attended Downing College, Cambridge. He was a Fellow of Downing College from 1975 to 1991. At the Bar his practice included international law, EU law and public law. He was amicus curiae in the Pinochet litigation before the House of Lords.

He was appointed to the High Court in 2005. A Welsh speaker, from 2008-11 he served as a Presiding Judge on the Wales Circuit and Chair of the Lord Chancellor’s Standing Committee on the Welsh Language. In 2012 he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and from 2012-15 he was Chairman of the Law Commission.

Lord Justice Briggs attended Charterhouse and Magdalen College, Oxford. A keen sailor and the first lawyer in his family, he practiced 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 was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2013. He was the judge in charge of the Chancery Modernisation Review in 2013, and led the Civil Courts Structure Review in 2015 to 2016. He 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.