News feature

Supreme Court President and new Justice sworn in

In January, a special ceremony was held for the swearing-in of Lord Reed of Allermuir as President of the Supreme Court and Lord Justice Hamblen as a new Justice.

​Lord Reed (pictured) was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court in February 2012 and has served as Deputy President since June 2018. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, Lord Reed served as a judge in Scotland, sitting - 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 was educated at the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford, and qualified as an advocate in Scotland and as a barrister in England and Wales. He practised at the Scottish Bar in a wide range of civil cases and also prosecuted serious crime.

As well as sitting on the Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, he is a member of the panel of ad hoc judges of the European Court of Human Rights, and a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He is also the High Steward of Oxford University.

Lord Justice Hamblen was educated at St John's College, University of Oxford and Harvard Law School, and was called to the Bar (Lincoln's Inn) in 1981. He practised at the Commercial Bar from 1982-2008. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1997, an Assistant Recorder in 1999 and a Recorder in 2000. He was appointed to sit as a Justice in the High Court in November 2008 and was a nominated Commercial Court Judge. In February 2016 he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal.

These appointments were first announced by 10 Downing Street on 24 July 2019. Lord Justice Leggatt and Professor Andrew Burrows will join the Supreme Court as justices on 21 April and 2 June 2020 respectively.