Judicial Commissioners

Sir John Goldring

The Rt Hon Sir John Goldring was formerly the Intelligence Services Commissioner and Senior Presiding Judge for England & Wales following a career as a High Court Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division. Sir John is currently the President of the Court of Appeal in the Cayman Islands. He oversaw, as Her Majesty’s Assistant Coroner, the second set of Inquests into the Hillsborough disaster, which ended in 2016.

Sir Nicholas Blake

The Hon Sir Nicholas Blake served as a judge of the High Court Queen’s Bench Division from 2007 to 2017 and now sits as a Deputy High Court Judge. He is a former President of the Upper Tribunal Immigration and Asylum Chamber. He practised at the Bar of England and Wales from 1975; was appointed QC in 1994 and Special Advocate in 1997 and conducted the Deepcut Review in 2006. He is a former chair of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association and served as a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery.

In October 2017, he returned to Matrix Chambers as a consultant. He is a trustee of the Slynn Foundation, a member of the International Association of Judges and the Commonwealth Judges and Magistrates Association and has participated in judicial seminars on aspects of public justice in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tanzania, Georgia, Port Moresby, Panama, Columbia, Peru and Mexico.

Dame Linda Dobbs

The Hon. Dame Linda Dobbs DBE served as a High Court Judge between 2004-2013, having practised at the Bar since 1981, and been appointed a QC in 1998. Dame Linda was the first person from a minority ethnic background to be appointed to the senior judiciary and acted as the Senior Liaison Judge for Diversity for 7 years.

During her career at the Bar she chaired a number of committees including the Race Relations and Professional Standard Committees and Criminal Bar Association. Dame Linda was a Justice of Appeal for the Turks and Caicos Islands and approved to sit in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. Dame Linda is the Independent Assessor for Miscarriages of Justice Compensation.

She was the founding Director of Programmes at the Judicial Institute for Africa and regularly conducts judicial training in Africa and the Caribbean. Dame Linda is also a Pro Chancellor of Surrey University and holds 7 honorary doctorates. She is currently conducting a long -standing inquiry for Lloyds Banking Group.

Sir Adrian Fulford

The Rt Hon Sir Adrian Fulford was called to the Bar in 1978 and took silk in 1994. He was appointed as a Recorder of the Crown Court in 1995. He became a judge of the High Court (Queen’s Bench Division) on 21 November 2002. He was elected to serve as one of the 18 judges of the International Criminal Court in 2003 for a term of nine years, assigned to the Trial Division. He then became the Deputy Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales on 1 January 2015 and was the Senior Presiding Judge from 1 January 2016 until 31 March 2017.

On 27 February 2017, he took up post as the first Investigatory Powers Commissioner. He stepped down from the role when he was appointed as Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) on 20 October 2019. He was appointed as a Judicial Commissioner by the Prime Minister in March 2020 to assist with IPCO’s work during the pandemic period and, since his retirement from the Bench in October 2022, has returned to sit regularly at IPCO. 

Sir Henry Globe

The Hon Sir Henry Globe was a serving High Court Judge of the Queen’s Bench Division from 2011 to 2017. He is a former Presiding Judge of the North Eastern Circuit and an inaugural member of the Sentencing Council. Previously, he practised at the Bar of England and Wales from 1972, was appointed a QC in 1994 and was appointed to the Bench in 2003, serving as the Resident Judge and Honorary Recorder of Liverpool between 2003 and 2011 where he oversaw the judicial arrangements for hearing all special procedure applications. He has specialised in criminal law, tried numerous cases involving murder and terrorism offences and is a former course director for the Judicial College’s serious crime and serious fraud seminars.

Sir Peter Gross

The Rt Hon Sir Peter Gross was called to the Bar in 1977 and became a Queen’s Counsel in 1992. In July 2010, he became a Lord Justice of Appeal, and was appointed to the Privy Council in 2011. He became Deputy Senior Presiding Judge in October 2011, and was Senior Presiding Judge for England and Wales from January 2013 to December 2015. He later was appointed Lead Judge for International Relations in January 2018.

On retirement from the Court of Appeal, Sir Peter was appointed President of the Slynn Foundation, dedicated to advancing the Rule of Law internationally. In December 2020 Sir Peter was appointed by the Lord Chancellor to chair the Independent Human Rights Act Review (IHRAR) examining whether the Human Rights Act 1998 was working effectively.

Sir Peter has been included in the list (published in December 2020) of those to be appointed to arbitration panels established under the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement to address disputes between the EU and UK under that Agreement. In January 2021, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal of the Dubai International Financial Centre (“DIFC”).

Lord Hughes

The Rt Hon Anthony Hughes, Lord Hughes of Ombersley, served as a Justice of the Supreme Court from April 2013 to August 2018. Lord Hughes was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1970 and served as a Recorder of the Crown Court from 1985 to 1997. He became a Queen’s Counsel in 1990 and was later appointed a judge of the High Court (Family Division from 1997 to 2003 and Queen’s Bench Division from 2004 to 2006). In 2006, he was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, serving as the Vice President of its Criminal Division from 2009 until his appointment to the Supreme Court.

Lord Menzies

Lord Menzies (Duncan Menzies) was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh in 1978. From 1984 to 1991, he was the Standing Junior Counsel to the Admiralty. He took silk in 1991. Between 1996 to 1997 he served as a Temporary Sheriff and, from 1997 to 2001, Chairman of the Scottish Planning, Local Government and Environmental Bar Group. In 1998, he was appointed an Advocate Depute and became Home Advocate Depute in September that year, serving until December 2000. He was appointed to the Inner House of the Court of Session, and sworn of the Privy Council, in 2012. He served as Inner House Administrative Judge, Disciplinary Judge, Vice Chairman of the Scottish Civil Justice Council, and on the Judicial Council for Scotland. He retired as a Senator of the College of Justice in 2021.

Sir Declan Morgan

The Rt Hon Sir Declan Morgan was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1976 and became a Queen’s Counsel in 1993. Between 2002 and 2004, he was Senior Crown Counsel for Northern Ireland. He also served for a time as Judge-In-Residence at the School of Law of Queen’s University Belfast.

In 2004, Sir Declan was appointed a judge of the High Court and knighted. In 2007, he was appointed to the Family Division of the Court, and in 2008 moved to hearing cases for judicial review. He succeeded Sir Brian Kerr as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland on 3 July 2009. Sir Declan retired as Lord Chief Justice in July 2021.

Sir Duncan Ouseley

The Hon Sir Duncan Ouseley was called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1973, took Silk in 1992, and was elected a Bencher in 2000. He was appointed a Recorder in 1994, a Judge of the High Court (Queen’s Bench) in 2000 and was Chairman of the Special Immigration Appeal Commission from 2003 to 2006. He was appointed President of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal from 2003 to 2005 and was Judge in charge of the Administrative Court from 2010 to 2015. He retired from the High Court on17 May 2019.

Sir Peregrine Simon

Sir Peregrine was a judge of the High Court in England and Wales (Queen’s Bench Division) from 2001-2015 and was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2015. He sat on a wide range of commercial and public law cases across all Divisions of the High Court and in the Upper Tribunals (tax and chancery chamber and immigration and asylum chamber). He was a Presiding Judge of the North-Eastern Circuit. He retired from the judiciary in June 2020.

Sir Michael Supperstone

The Hon Sir Michael Supperstone was called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1973, took Silk in 1991 and was elected a Bencher in 1999. He was appointed an Assistant Recorder in 1992, a Recorder in 1996, a Deputy High Court Judge in 1998, a Judge of the High Court (Queen’s Bench) in 2010 and a Judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal in 2011. He was the Queen’s Bench Liaison Judge (North and North Eastern Circuits) from 2013 to 2014 and Judge in Charge of the Administrative Court from 2017 until his retirement. He retired from the High Court (Queen’s Bench) with effect from 31 March 2020.

Sir Nigel Sweeney

Sir Nigel Sweeney was called to the Bar in 1976 and specialised in terrorism, official secrets, murder and major health & safety cases. He was appointed as First Senior Prosecuting Counsel to the Crown in 1997 and took Silk in 2000.

Sir Nigel became a High Court Judge (Queens Bench Division) in 2008 and was a Presiding Judge of the South Eastern Circuit from 2012 to 2015. He was twice the Judge in Charge of the Terrorism List and retired in January 2023.

Sir Alan Wilkie

The Hon Sir Alan Wilkie was called to the Bar in 1974. He was appointed to the High Court in 2004. He was the Presiding Judge for the North Eastern Circuit from 2007 to 2010 and retired from the Bench in January 2017. Sir Alan was also a Law Commissioner and served as a Judicial Appointments Commissioner. He has extensive experience in trying complex terrorism cases and conducting reviews of control orders and TPIMs.