Lord Mance
Call: 1965
"He writes meticulously reasoned awards."
Chambers & Partners 2023
Practice Profile
Lord Mance was Deputy President of the Supreme Court. He sat from 1993 to 1999 as a Commercial Judge, was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 1999, and to the House of Lords in 2005 where he spent four years as a Law Lord before becoming a Justice of the Supreme Court on its formation in 2009 and its Deputy President in 2017-2018.
Since joining 7 King’s Bench Walk, Lord Mance has been appointed in a wide range of arbitrations (in a majority of cases as sole arbitrator or chair, but also as a wing arbitrator) under ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL and ICSID Rules and ad hoc in fields including insurance/reinsurance, energy, construction, international trade, joint venture and shareholder agreements and investment.
He has wide-reaching experience of international, commercial and European law, having written many judgments in all these areas as both first instance and appellate levels.
Lord Mance was until the end of 2021 Chair of the International Law Association as well as Chair of the Conduct Committee of the House of Lords. He is co-chair of the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law, and a member of the Judicial Integrity Group (responsible for the Bangalore Principles on Judicial Conduct). He also sits as an appellate judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court and was from 2020 to 2023 Chief Justice of the Astana International Financial Centre Court.
At the Bar he specialised in commercial law including insurance and reinsurance, professional negligence (particularly of accountants, auditors, brokers and lawyers), banking and international trade. He was a founder director of the Bar Mutual Indemnity Insurance Fund Ltd and chaired various Banking Appeals Tribunals. He also sat as an arbitrator.
While on the bench, he sat on the Council of Europe’s Consultative Council of European Judges, becoming its first elected chair from 2000 to 2003. In the House of Lords, he chaired a sub-committee of the European Union Select Committee, scrutinising proposals concerning European law and institutions, and contributing to the Committee’s report on the Treaty of Lisbon 2009. He also led a group working on domestic enforcement of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and a delegation reporting on the problem of impunity in relation to violence against women in the Congo.
From 2010 to 2018 he served on the seven-person panel established by article 255 TFEU to report on candidates’ suitability to serve as Judge or Advocate-General in the European Court of Justice.
Lord Mance has good German and reasonable French, having worked in both, and reads (but speaks limited) Spanish.
Specific cases can be found below, mostly in which Lord Mance wrote judgments:
- IPCO (Nigeria) Ltd v Nigerian National Petroleum Corp [2017] UKPC 16 (security for award)
- Boru Hatlari lle Petrol Taşima AŞ v Tepe Inşaat Sanayii AŞ [2016] UKPC 104 (state immunity; enforcement of awards)
- The National Housing Trust v YP Seaton & Associates Co Ltd [2015] UKPC 43 (excess of jurisdiction)
- Cukurova Holding AS v Sonera Holding BV [2014] UKPC 15 (challenge to award)
- Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant JSC v AES Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant LLP [2013] UKSC 35 (injunction to prevent breach of agreement to arbitrate)
- Jivraj v Hashwani [2011] UKSC 40 (arbitrators’ status)
- Dallah Real Estate and Tourism Holding Company v The Ministry of Religious Affairs, Government of Pakistan [2010] UKSC 46 (tribunal’s jurisdiction)
- West Tankers Inc v RAS Riunione Adriatica di Sicurta Spa [2007] UKHL 4 (reference to Court of Justice on power to injunct a party to an arbitration agreement from pursuing court proceedings within the EU)
- Republic of Ecuador v Occidental Exploration and Production Co [2005] EWCA Civ 1116 (scope of BIT treaty justiciable)
- Department of Economic Policy and Development of the City of Moscow v Bankers Trust Co [2004] EWCA Civ 314 (preserving arbitral confidence in court)
- Dardana Ltd v Yukos Oil Co [2001] EWCA Civ 584 (enforcement under NYC)
- London & Leeds Estates Ltd v Paribas (No.2) [1995] 2 E.G. 134 (loss of confidentiality of witness statements)
- Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SPA v Playboy Club London Ltd [2018] UKSC 43 (scope of bank’s liability under a credit reference)
- Investec Trust (Guernsey) Ltd v Glenalla Properties Ltd [2018] UKSC 7
- Taurus Petroleum Ltd v State Oil Marketing Co of Iraq [2017] UKSC 64 (third party debt order in respect of letter of credit)
- DD Growth Premium 2X Fund v RMF Market Neutral Strategies [2017] UKPC 36 (redemption)
- Pearson v Primeo Fund [2017] UKPC 19 (priorities in liquidation)
- Macris v Financial Conduct Authority [2017] UKSC 19
- Akers v Samba [2017] UKSC 6 (wrongful disposition of trust assets)
- Central Bank of Ecuador v Conticorp SA [2015] UKPC 11 (dishonest procurement or assistance of director’s breaches of fiduciary duties).
- Krys v KBC Partners LP [2015] UKPC 46
- Crociani v Crociani and Princess Camilla de Bourbon [2014] UKPC 40 (law governing trust)
- UC Rusal Alumina Jamaica Ltd v Wynette Miller [2014] UKPC 39 (pension surplus, employer’s rights)
- Williams v Central Bank of Nigeria [2014] UKSC 10
- In re the Nortel and Lehman Companies (No 2) [2013] UKSC 52
- Cukurova Finance International Ltd v Alfa Telecom Turkey Ltd [2013] UKPC 2, 20 and 25
- Financial Services Authority v Sinaloa Gold Plc [2013] UKSC 11
- Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland v Lloyds Banking Group Plc [2013] UKSC 3
- Belmont Park Investments Pty Ltd v BNY Corporate Trustee Services Ltd and Lehman Brothers Special Financing In [2011] UKSC 38
- Culross Global SPC Ltd v Strategic Turnaround Master Partnership Ltd [2010] UKPC 33
- In re Sigma Finance Corp [2009] UKSC 2
- Pattni v Ali [2006] UKHL 51
- Customs & Excise Commissioners v Barclays Bank Plc [2006] UKHL 28
- Solo Industries UK Ltd v Canara Bank [2001] EWC Civ 1059 (performance bond)
- Baird Textile Holdings Ltd v Marks & Spencer Plc [2001] EWCA Civ 274 (right to terminate business relationship)
- Australian and New Zealand Banking Corp v Société Générale [2000] EWCA Civ 44; [2000] CLC 833 (CA)
- Grupo Torras SA v Sheikh Al-Sabah and others [1995] 1 Lloyd’s Reports 374 and [1999] EWHC, [1999] CLC 1469
- Bankers Trust International plc v PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera [1996] CLC 518 (duty to explain implications of interest rate swaps?)
- Bank of Baroda v Vysya Bank Ltd [1994] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 87 (law governing letter of credit)
- Ministry of Defence v Iraqi Civilians [2016] UKSC 25
- Vizcaya Partners Ltd v Picard [2016] UKPC 5
- Cox v Ergo Versicherung AG [2014] UKPC 22
- VTB Capital Plc v Nutritek International Corp [2013] UKSC 5
- NML Capital Ltd v Argentina [2011] UKSC 31 (state immunity)
- Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich Ag v An Feng Steel Co. Ltd. [2001] EWCA Civ 68 (law governing competing claims to debt)
- Bank of Baroda v Vysya Bank [1994] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 87
- Quoine Pte Ltd v B2C2 Ltd [2020] SGCA(I) 02 (computer made crypto-currency contracts, unilateral mistake)
- Cartier International AG v British Telecommunications Plc [2018] UKSC 28 (costs of complying with injunction)
- Fulton Shipping Ltd v Globalia Business Travel SAU [2017] UKSC 43
- Chen v Ng [2017] UKPC 27 (consideration)
- Patel v Mirza [2016] UKSC 42 (illegality)
- Makdessi v Cavendish Square Holdings BV [2015] UKSC 67 (penalty clauses)
- Farstad Supply AS v Enviroco Ltd [2010] UKSC 18 (effect of charterparty indemnity/exclusion in context of contribution claim)
- Golden Strait Corporation v Nippon Yusen Kubishiki Kaisha (“The Golden Victory”) [2005] EWCA Civ 1190, affirmed [2007] 2 AC 353 (relevance of post-breach events to assessment of damages)
- Cressman v Coys of Kensington (Sales) Ltd [2004] EWCA Civ 47 (restitution)
- Experience Hendrix LLC v PPX Enterprises Inc [2003] EWCA Civ 323 (restitution/damages)
- Huyton SA v Peter Cremer GmbH & Co [1998] EWHC 1208 (Comm)
- Scotch Whisky Association v Lord Advocate [2017] UKSC 76 (single market)
- Nuclear Decommissioning Authority v EnergySolutions EU Ltd [2017] UKSC 24 (damages)
- Deutsche Bahn AG v Morgan Crucible Co Plc [2014] UKSC 24 (cartel)
- R (HS2 Action Alliance) v Secretary of State for Transport [2014] UKSC 3 (limits on power of EU)
- R (Chester) v Secretary of State for Justice [2013] UKSC 63 (prisoner voting)
- BHL Old Co Ltd v BASF SE [2012] UKSC 24 (cartel)
- Bloomsbury International Limited v Sea Fish Industry Authority and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2011] UKSC 11
- Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National Plc [2009] UKSC 6 (bank charges)
- Office of Fair Trading (Respondents) v. Lloyds TSB Bank plc [2007] UKHL 48 (recourse against credit card issuer in case of foreign transactions)
- Courage Ltd v Crehan (No 1) [2001] EWCA Civ 1930 (tied public houses)
- Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission’s Reference [2018] UKSC 49 (discrimination)
- Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission’s application for judicial review [2018] UKSC 27 (abortion)
- Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2017] UKSC 5 (need for Parliamentary approval before service of any notice to leave EU)
- Times Newspapers Ltd v Flood [2017] UKSC 33
- Arorangi Timberland Ltd v Minister of the Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund [2016] UKPC 32 (discrimination against migrant workers)
- Ferguson v Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago [2016] UKPC 2 (retrospective legislation)
- Coventry v Lawrence [2015] UKSC 50
- Pham v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] UKSC 19 (removal of citizenship)
- Newbold v Commissioner of Police [2014] UKPC 12 (interception of communications)
- Smith v Ministry of Defence [2013] UKSC 41 (UK state liability for inadequate military equipment)
- Assange v The Swedish Public Prosecution Authority [2012] UKSC 22 (meaning of “judicial authority”)
- Her Majesty’s Treasury v Ahmed [2010] UKSC 5 (Order in Council freezing assets unlawful)
- R (Laport) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire [2006] UKHL 55 (right of assembly)
- R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2008] UKSC 61 (removal of right of return from Chagos Islanders)
- State of Mauritius v Khoyratty [2006] UKPC 13 (unconstitutionality of legislation removing accused’s right to seek bail)
- Bowman v Fels [2005] EWCA Civ 226 (presumption against removal of legal professional privilege)
- Jones v Saudi Arabia [2004] EWCA Civ 1394, overruled [2006] UKHL 26 (no civil right to sue for torture by foreign state official)
Marine
- Navigators Insurance Company Ltd v Atlasnavios-Navegacao LDA [2018] UKSC 26
- Versloot Dredging BV v HDI Gerling Industrie Versicherung AG [2016] UKSC 45
- Global Process Systems Inc v Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad [2011] UKSC 5
Non-marine
- The Policyholders Specified in Schedule 1 to the Arbitration Agreement v China Taiping Insurance (UK) Co Ltd (published sole arbitration award of 10 September 2021 referred to in Corbin & King Ltd v Axa Insurance UK Plc [2022] EWHC 409 (Comm))
- Ramsook v Crossley [2018] UKPC 9
- Maharaj v Motor One Insurance Ltd [2018] UKPC 8
- AIG Europe Ltd v Woodman [2017] UKSC 18 (aggregation of claims)
- Impact Funding Solutions Ltd v Barrington Support Services Ltd [2016] UKSC 57
- Moreno v The Motor Insurers’ Bureau [2016] UKSC 52
- International Energy Group Ltd v Zurich Insurance Plc [2015] UKSC 33
- Employers’ Liability Insurance “Trigger” Litigation: BAI (Run Off) Ltd v Durham [2012] UKSC 14 (trigger point for insurance liability for mesothelioma)
- Stemson v AMP General Insurance (NZ) Ltd [2006] UKPC 30 (false claims)
- Friends Provident Life & Pensions Ltd v Sirius International Insurance Corp [2005] EWCA Civ 601
- AXA General Insurance Ltd v Gottlieb [2005] EWCA Civ 112
Reinsurance
- Teal Assurance Co Ltd v W. R Berkley Insurance (Europe) Ltd [2013] UKSC 57
- Wasa International Insurance Co Ltd v Lexington Insurance Co [2009] UKHL 40
- Brotherton v Aseguradora Colseguros SA [2003] EWCA Civ 705
- Gan Insurance Co Ltd v Tai Ping Insurance Co Ltd (No 2) [2001] EWCA Civ 1047 and (No 3) [2002] EWCA Civ 248
- Charter Reinsurance Co Ltd v Fagan (Lloyd’s Syndicates 540 and 542) [1997] AC 313).
- Home Insurance Co Ltd v Mentor Insurance Co (UK) Ltd [1990] 1 WLR 153
- Groupama Navigation et Transports v Catatumbo CA Seguros [2000] EWCA Civ 220
- Stone & Rolls Ltd v Moore Stephens [2009] UKHL 39
- Law Society v Sephton & Co [2006] UKHL 22
- Howard v Fawcetts [2006] UKHL 9
Lord Mance has been Executive Chair of the International Law Society since 2010.
- R (Tag Eldin Ramadan Bashir & Ors) (AP) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2017] UKSC 106
- Belhaj v Straw and Rahmatullah (No 1) v Ministry of Defence [2017] UKSC 1 and 3 (state immunity; alleged illegal rendition/detention)
- Abd Ali Hameed Al-Waheed and Serdar Mohammed v Ministry of Defence [2017] UKSC 2 (inter-relationship of public international, domestic law and European Human Rights Convention)
- Boru Hatlari lle Petrol Taşima AŞ v Tepe Inşaat Sanayii AŞ [2016] UKPC 104 (state immunity; enforcement of awards)
- Keyu v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2015] UKSC 69 (UK responsibility for, and for holding an enquiry into, killings in Malaya in 1948
- United States v Nolan [2015] UKSC 63 (jurisdiction in respect of acts jure imperii where state immunity waived)
- Republic of Ecuador v Occidental Exploration and Production Co [2005] EWCA Civ 1116 (scope of BIT treaty justiciable)
- Kuwait Airways v Iraqi Airways [1999] CLC 31 (affirmed [2002] UKHL 19) (liability for conversion of Kuwait airplane fleet)
- Fulton Shipping Ltd v Globalia Business Travel SAU [2017] UKSC 43 (charterparty repudiation)
- Gard Marine and Energy Ltd v China National Chartering Co Ltd [2017] UKSC 35 (interpretation of Barecon 89 charter)
- PST Energy 7 Shipping LLC v O W Bunker Malta Ltd [2016] UKSC 23 (owners’ liability for bunkers consumed in circumstances where no title acquired)
- NYK Bulkship (Atlantic) NV v Cargill International SA [2016] UKSC 20 (whether charterers responsible for vessel’s arrest)
- British American Tobacco Denmark A/S v Kazemier Transport BV and Essers Security Systems BV [2015] UKSC 65 (CMR)
- Golden Strait Corporation v Nippon Yusen Kubishiki Kaisha (“The Golden Victory”) [2005] EWCA Civ 1190, affirmed [2007] 2 AC 353 (relevance of post-breach events to assessment of damages)
- “He writes meticulously reasoned awards.” Chambers & Partners 2023
- “He shows remarkable patience as well as a great ability to write awards – he has written unbelievably good awards. It is like a great judgment from the High Court.” Chambers & Partners 2023
| Date | Details |
| 24 October 2024
26 October 2022 |
Constitutionalism in the Privy Council (James Guthrie KC Memorial Lecture) The Protection of Rights – This way, that way, forwards, backwards .… The Sir Thomas More lecture 2022 (Lincoln’s Inn) |
| 12 May 2022
15 July 2020 |
Keynote speech to GAR live on current issues in international arbitration https://globalarbitrationreview.com/article/lord-mance-addresses-gar-live-london
Das Vereinigte Königreich und Europa (lecture Juristische Studiengesellschaft Karlsruhe, Jarhresband 2020, pp.61-78) |
| June 2020 | Jean-Marc Sauvé et le comité 255 (in Qu’est-ce que le bien commun? Hommage à Jean-Marc Sauvé, Berger Levrault) |
| 8 Dec 2018 | The Rule of Law, Citizens Project Foundation, Hong Kong |
| 3 Sept 2018 | Unjust Enrichment in English law: legal principle or well-meaning sloppiness of thought? (Banking and Financial Services Conference, Queenstown, NZ, keynote speech) |
| 11 July 2018 | The Frontiers of Executive and Judicial Power: Differences in Common Law constitutional traditions (Melbourne University Public Law Conference, keynote speech) Asia Pacific Law Review Vol 26 No 2 (2018) 109 |
| 10 July 2018 | The Frontiers of Legislative, Executive and Judicial Power (Distinguished Persons’ lecture, City University, Hong Kong) |
| 9 July 2018 | Arbitral Autonomy and Applicable and Overriding Law (Lord Goff Arbitration lecture, City University, Hong Kong) Asia Law Review Vol 27, 2019 Issue 1 |
| Nov 2017 | Justiciability (40th F A Mann lecture I.C.L.Q. 2018, 67(4), pp. 739-757) |
| Oct 2017 | Privy Council Practice (OUP) (co-authored with Jacob Turner) inc’g chapters on Precedent, Evidence and Judgments and Constitutions, Constitutional Caselaw and the Death Penalty |
| Feb 2017 | The Role of Judges in a Representative Democracy (speech on the Privy Council’s fourth sitting in The Bahamas: (2017) Journal of Civil Litigation and Practice 40 |
| Feb 2017 | International Law in the Supreme Court (King’s College, London) |
| 16 Dec 2016 | Débat sur l’ordre juridique arbitral avec Emmanuel Gaillard (Cour de cassation, Paris) |
| 29 Sept 2016 | Jurisdiction, judgments and proper law relating to states outside the Brussels and Rome regimes (5th Europa lecture, University of Leiden) |
| 2016 | Das Common Law und Europa: (2016) Juristen für Europa 29 (graduation ceremony speech, Heidelberg University, 2012) |
| 4 Nov 2015 | Arbitration – a Law unto itself? (Freshfields’ annual arbitration lecture) Arbitration Int. 2016, 32(2), 223-241 |
| 12 June 2015 | In the beginning is the market, in the end is the law (Keynote speech to Association de droit des assurances, Copenhagen) |
| 8 June 2015 | Speech to mark conclusion of M Vassilios Skouris’s Presidency of the European Court of Justice |
| 31 March 2015 | Justice and justiciability (Cayman Islands’ Fifth Annual Distinguished Guest lecture) |
| 14 December 2013 | Destruction or Metamorphosis of the Legal Order? (World Policy Conference, Monaco) |
| 25 Oct 2013 | Ex turpi causa: when Latin avoids liability (Edinburgh University Law Faculty) (2014) Edin. L.R. 18(2), 175 |
| 1 Oct 2013 | The Rule of Law – Common Traditions and Common Issues (speech to mark 150th anniversary of the Hoge Raad in presence of the King of the Netherlands |
| 1 Feb 2013 | The Interface between European and national law (Sir Jeremy Lever QC lecture at Oxford:) E.L. Rev. 2013, 38(4), 437-456 |
| 26 Oct 2012 | The Nomination of Judges to the Court of Justice: talks at the Sorbonne and to the Network of Presidents of European Supreme Courts in Paris |
| May 2012 | The Independence of Judges: essay in Judges’ independence (to mark Norwegian Association of Judges’ 100th anniversary) |
| 19 Nov 2011 | The Composition of the European Court of Justice: UK Assoc. of European Lawyers |
| 4 Nov 2011 | Privacy (Lord Atkin annual lecture, Christ Church College, Brecon) |
| 11 Oct 2011 | Should the law be certain? (Oxford Shrieval lecture ) |
| 12 Feb 2011 | From Piracy to Terrorism in international law (Essex University annual lecture, repeated to Hong Kong branch of International Law Assoc. June 2011) |
| 2011 | The 1906 [Marine Insurance] Act, common law and contract clauses: all in harmony? (2011) LMCLQ 3, 346-360 |
| 8 June 2010 | Accountants and the law (KPMG annual lecture) |
| 3 Dec 2009 | The Changing Role of an Independent Judiciary (23rd Sultan Azlan Shah lecture, Kuala Lumpur) |
| 28 Nov 2008 | Opting into Community law and interpreting Convention rights: is the UK more or less committed? (James D. Wood lecture, Glasgow University: (2009) Public Law 544 |
| 31 Oct 2008 | Britain’s Emerging Constitution (Inaugural lecture, Centre for British Legal Studies, Humboldt University, Berlin: (2008) Oxford Univ Comp. Law Forum 3: ouclf.iuscomp.org |
| 6 Nov 2007 | Human Rights, privacy and the public interest – who draws the line and where? (Liverpool University annual lecture): (2009) Liverpool L.R. 30(3), 263-283 |
| 24 Nov 2006 | The Common Law and Europe: differences of style or substance and do they matter? (Presidential address, Holdsworth Club, Birmingham University) |
| April 2006 | Constitutional Reforms, the Supreme Court and the Law Lords: C.J.Q.2006, 25(Apr), 155-165 |
| April 2006 | Is Europe aiming to civilise the common law? (Chancery Bar Association annual lecture: E.B.L. Rev. 2007, 18(1), 77-99, and Rassegne Forense 2006 Vol 39(2), 1053) |
| 27 March 2006 | The Future of Private International Law: J. Priv. Int. L. 2005, 1(2), 185-195 |
| 2005 | Exclusive jurisdiction clauses and European ideals (critique of EU Court of Justice judgment in Case C-116/02 Erich Gasser v Misat): [2004] 120 L.Q.R. 357-384 |
| 2004 | Nationale Richter und der einheitliche europäische Rechtsraum (National Judges and the Single European Space) (Deutsch-Britische Ges, UK Embasssy, Berlin) |
| 15 Dec 2003 | Confidentiality of Arbitrations: Int. Centre Alt. Disp. Res’n, New Delhi |
| 13 Sept 2003 | Foreign and Comparative Law in the Courts: (2001) 36 Texas Int. Law Journal 415 |
| 2001 | Article 8: a new law of privacy: (1999) J.S.B.J, 7, 11-13 |
| 1999 | Insolvency at Sea (Donald O’May lecture in Maritime Law, Southampton University: (1995) LMCLQ 34, advocating reform of the Third Party (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930, achieved by Third Party (Rights against Insurers) Act 2010 |
| 16 Nov 1994 | Insurance Brokers’ negligence: Int Broker 1993, Sep, 5-9 |
| 1993 | The operation of an “all debts” reservation of title clause: 1992 LMCLQ, 1(Feb), 35-39 |
| 1992 | Mock Justice? Arbitration 1990, 56(4), 263-265; Counsel 1990, Mar, 15, 17 |
1961 – 1964: University College, Oxford; MA Jurisprudence (first class)
Oct. 1965: Call to bar (Middle Temple)
Hon Fellowships:
University College, Oxford (2005)
Wolfson College, Oxford (2011)
Liverpool John Moores University;
John F Kennedy University, Buenos Aires;
American Society of Trial Lawyers (2016)
Hon Doctorates:
University of Oxford (LLD) (2016)
Canterbury Christ Church University;
Legal Career:
2017 – 2018 Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court
2009 – 2017 Justice of the UK Supreme Court
2005 – 2009: House of Lords Appellate Committee
1999 – 2005: Court of Appeal of England and Wales
1993 – 1999: High Court, QBD Judge, also sitting in Commercial Court
1989 – 1993: Chair, various Banking Appeal Tribunals
1988 – 1994: Founder Director of Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund Ltd, with responsibility for reinsurance
1982 – 1993: QC; admitted ad hoc in Hong Kong and The Bahamas; also arbitrator and from 1990 recorder and then deputy High Court Judge
1966 – 1993: 7 King’s Bench Walk (commercial chambers)
1965 – 66: Common and commercial law pupillages
Jan – Sept 1965: intern in Hamburg law firm (now Freshfields).
Other Associated Activities:
2019 to date: Chair, Conduct Committee of the House of Lords
2018 to date: Honorary Professor Law, King’s College, London
2017-2018: One of group of senior judges advising the UK Government on the technical implications of Brexit for the UK legal system.
2010-2018: Member of the seven-person panel from across Europe, appointed by the Council of Ministers under Article 255 TFEU (2009) to consider and report on the suitability of candidates to act as judges or advocates-general of the European Court of Justice.
2011 to date: Founder member and member of Senate of the European Law Institute and member of its three-person arbitral committee.
2010 to date: Chair and now Co-Chair of Lord Chancellor’s standing Advisory Committee on Private International Law.
2009 to 2021: Chair of the Executive Council of the International Law Association, (www.ila-hq.org).
2009 to date: President of British-German Jurists’ Association.
2008 to date: Member of Judicial Integrity Group responsible for the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct
2008: Leader of six-person delegation of Europeans and Africans to report on Justice, Impunity and Sexual Violence in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (for the Swedish Foundation for Human Rights and the All Party Group on the Great Lakes Region of Africa. (http://www.appggreatlakes.org/index.php/appg-reports-mainmenu-35/116-sexual-violence-report-published).
2007-2009: Member of House of Lords European Union Select Committee and Chair of its sub-committee on European Law and Institutions.
2004-2009: Judge responsible for representing and coordinating UK judicial response to the European initiative to develop a common “contractual frame of reference” (the “CFR” project).
2003-2011: UK representative on the Board of Trustees of the European Law Academy, Trier.
2000-2012: UK representative on the Council of Europe’s (“CoE’s”) Consultative Council of European Judges (“CCJE”) (www.coe.int/CCJE). Elected and re-elected as its first chair 2000-2003.
2000-2002: President of British Insurance Law Association (BILA).
Other Activities:
2019 Elected Membre correspondant de l’Académie des Sciences morales et politiques
2012 to 2018 – High Steward of the University of Oxford
Visitor of Wolfson College, St Cross College and Lineker College, Oxford
2000 to 2020 – Chair, Hampstead Counselling Service
"He shows remarkable patience as well as a great ability to write awards - he has written unbelievably good awards. It is like a great judgment from the High Court."
Chambers & Partners 2023