The Rt Hon The Lord Judge is the Head of the judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales.
Born in Malta on 19 May 1941, Lord Judge’s first education was at St Edward’s College. He attended the Oratory School in Woodcote from 1954 until 1959 where he was Captain of School and Captain of Cricket.
He was awarded an Open Exhibition to Magdalene College, Cambridge in 1959 and graduated with a BA Hons (later MA) in History and Law. During his studies at Cambridge he entered the Hon Society of Middle Temple and was subsequently called to the Bar in 1963.
Appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court in 1976, Lord Judge was appointed Queen’s Counsel (QC) In 1979. He was a member of the Senate of the Inns of Court and the Bar between 1980-1983, and 1984-1986 and served on the Professional Conduct Committee. In 1987 he was elected leader of the Midland and Oxford Circuit and also elected a bencher of the Middle Temple. He was a member of the Judicial Studies Board from 1984-1988, and from 1990-1993 and again from 1996-1998, Chairman of the Criminal Committee of the Judicial Studies Board.
In 1988 he was appointed a High Court Judge, Queen’s Bench Division, and was knighted. In 1993 he became Presiding Judge of the Midland and Oxford Circuit. Three years later, in 1996, he was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal and soon afterwards sworn in as a Privy Councillor.
From 1998 until 2003 he was Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales, and in 2005 was appointed as the first President of the Queen’s Bench Division.
On 1 October 2008 Lord Judge was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, the Head of the Judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. He was created a life peer, as Baron Judge of Draycote in the County of Warwickshire on 1 October 2008.
