Family Law

The Rt Hon Sir Jeremy Sullivan, Senior President of Tribunals, is to retire on 17 September 2015. Her Majesty The Queen is pleased to approve the appointment of The Rt Hon Lord Justice Ryder (Sir Ernest Nigel Ryder) as the Senior President of Tribunals with effect from 18 September 2015.

The Senior President of Tribunals is the independent and statutory leader of the tribunal judiciary. Just as the Lord Chief Justice heads the judiciary in England and Wales, the Senior President heads the tribunals judiciary, although his remit extends to Scotland and Northern Ireland depending on the jurisdiction concerned (Immigration and Asylum as well as Tax are UK-wide). The Senior President of Tribunals provides leadership for all those within the First-tier and Upper Tribunals and the Employment Tribunals.

Lord Justice Ryder was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1981 and was made a Bencher in 2004. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997, Assistant Recorder in 1997, Recorder in 2000 and Deputy High Court Judge in 2001. He was appointed a Judge of the High Court of Justice, Family Division on 4 May 2004 and was the Family Division Liaison Judge and then the Presiding Judge of the Northern Circuit. Lord Justice Ryder was the Judge in Charge of the Modernisation of Family Justice, 2011-12 and was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and privy counsellor in 2013. He is the Head of Deployment Strategy.

Lord Justice Ryder is co-author of Child Case Management Practice.

Further details on the post of Senior President of Tribunals are available here.