Experience counts in Supreme Court appointments

Two experienced Court of Appeal judges have been appointed justices of the Supreme Court, Downing Street has announced.

Lord Justice Hughes joined the Court of Appeal in 2006 and is vice president of its Criminal Division. He became a High Court judge in 1996 and was initially assigned to the Family Division.

He will succeed Lord Dyson, who became Master of the Rolls in October 2012.

Lord Justice Toulson will succeed Lord Walker, who retires next month. Toulson LJ was appointed to the High Court in 1996, and sat in the Commercial and Administrative Courts. He was chairman of the Law Commission from 2002 to 2006. He joined the Court of Appeal in 2007.

Both new justices will be sworn in on April 6. At the beginning of the new legal year, in October this year, another new justice will arrive, the leading Scottish judge Lord Hodge.

Lord Hodge was appointed Senator of the College of Justice in 2005 and sits in the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary.

He will replace Lord Hope, one of the two Scottish justices, who retires in June.

However, Lord Hope’s other position as deputy president of the Supreme Court is still to be filled and applications will be invited from existing justices.

Lord Neuberger, president of the Supreme Court, said: “Recommending three appointments for a Court of twelve naturally represents an important set of decisions. All members of the selection commission were keenly aware of the significance of the task we faced.

“We encouraged applications from a broad qualified pool, and took careful soundings from all those who were statutorily required to be consulted.

“The three names which have emerged represent a talented trio of judges, all of whom have already made notable contributions to the development of the law in their judicial careers.”

In a separate development, only one solicitor advocate featured in the list of 84 new appointments as QCs this morning, Karyl Nairn (pictured).

Nairn, co-head of international arbitration in Europe at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, was the lead partner acting for Roman Abramovitch in his successful defence against the $6bn High Court claim brought by Boris Berezovsky.

Two solicitors applied to become silks, out of a total of 183 applications for QC. Three non-white applicants were successful, out of the 21 who applied, and 14 women were chosen as silks from 26 applicants.

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