Family Law

Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, currently Master of the Rolls, has been named as the next President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Lord Neuberger will succeed Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, who steps down from the role as the most senior judge in the United Kingdom on 30 September 2012. The new President will be sworn in at a special ceremony at the Court on 1 October 2012.

Lord Neuberger said today: "It is a great honour to have been given the opportunity to serve as the President of the UK Supreme Court and to work with the eleven other distinguished members of the Court. The UK Supreme Court, like its predecessor, the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords, is rightly respected throughout the world.

"Together with the other members of the Court, I will do my best to ensure that it continues to play its proper role in upholding the rule of law, and applying and developing the law in a coherent and principled and practical way, appropriate for today's world."

The office of President of the Supreme Court is a wide-ranging one. In addition to his judicial responsibilities, which involve appeals to the UK Supreme Court and to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the final appeal court for a number of members of the Commonwealth and some other jurisdictions), the President has leadership, ambassadorial and administrative responsibilities. In particular the President is responsible for leading discussions with the Lord Chancellor over policy and resource issues that affect the Supreme Court. He may also appear before Select Committees of the UK Parliament.

The Lord Neuberger has held the office of Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice (the second most senior judge in England and Wales) from 1 October 2009. Before that, from 2007, Lord Neuberger was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary ("Law Lord"), after serving for three years as a Lord Justice of Appeal.

In 2006 - 2007 led an investigation for the Bar Council into widening access to the barristers' profession. He set up and chaired a committee which reported in May 2011 on the practice and procedure relating to super-injunctions.

Lord Neuberger's first judicial appointment was as a Recorder from 1990 until 1996, when he was appointed a judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court of England and Wales. He was the Supervising Chancery Judge for the Midland, Wales and Chester, and Western Circuits between 2001and 2004.