He will take up his new role on 11 January 2020, the day after Lady Hale retires. She has served as President since September 2017.
Three Justices have also been appointed this week― Lord Justice Hamblen, Lord Justice Leggatt and Professor Andrew Burrows will join the court on 13 January, 21 April and 2 June 2020, respectively.
Lord Reed attended George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, and the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford, later practising as an advocate in Scotland in a wide range of civil cases as well as prosecuting crime. He also qualified as a barrister in England and Wales.
In his judicial career, he sat from 1998 to 2008 in the Outer House of the Court of Session, where he was the Principal Commercial and Companies Judge, and from 2008 to 2012 in the Inner House. He joined the Supreme Court in February 2012 and has been Deputy President since June 2018. He is also a member of the panel of ad hoc judges of the European Court of Human Rights, a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, and the High Steward of Oxford University.
Lord Reed said: ‘As President I will continue to champion the rule of law, alongside promoting public understanding of the role of the judiciary and maintaining the high regard in which the Court is held around the world.’
Lord Hamblen practised at the Commercial Bar from 1982 to 2008, when he became a High Court judge. He was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2016.
Lord Leggatt worked as a foreign lawyer at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, before joining Brick Court Chambers in London in 1985, specialising in commercial cases. He was appointed a High Court Judge in 2012, and promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2018.
Professor Andrew Burrows is Professor of the Law of England at Oxford University, and has been a barrister at Fountain Court Chambers since 1989. He has been sitting as a part-time judge for more than 20 years, and is a former Law Commissioner for England and Wales (1994-1999) and President of the Society of Legal Scholars (2015-16). He has written books and articles on contract, tort, unjust enrichment, and statute law.
