Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers

The Right Honourable The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG PC
President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2009
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy President	The Lord Hope of Craighead
Preceded by	Office created
Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office 1 October 2008 – 1 October 2009
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Deputy	The Lord Hope of Craighead
Preceded by	The Lord Bingham of Cornhill
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
In office 3 October 2005 – 1 October 2008
Preceded by	The Lord Woolf
Succeeded by	The Lord Judge
Master of the Rolls
In office 6 June 2000 – 3 October 2005
Preceded by	The Lord Woolf
Succeeded by	The Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office 1999–2000
Preceded by	The Lord Lloyd of Berwick
Succeeded by	The Lord Scott of Foscote
Personal details
Born	21 January 1938 (1938-01-21) (age 73)
Spouse(s)	Christylle Marie-Thérèse Rouffiac
Residence	Hampstead, London
Alma mater	King's College, Cambridge

Nicholas Addison Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, KG PC (born 21 January 1938) is the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Before 1 October 2009 his title was Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. He was Master of the Rolls from 2000 to 2005 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2005 until 1 October 2008. He was the first Lord Chief Justice to be head of the English judiciary, when that function was transferred from the Lord Chancellor in April 2006.^[1] On 11 October 2011, it was announced that Lord Phillips will retire early, effective 30 September 2012.^[2]

Early life

Phillips was educated at Bryanston School. He has been a Governor of the school since 1975 and has been Chairman of the Governors since 1981. He undertook his National Service with the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, where he was a commissioned officer. After the two years' service he went to King's College, Cambridge, where he read law. In 1962, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, where he was the Harmsworth Scholar. He undertook pupillage at 2 Essex Court chambers (where the QC was the Anglo-American Waldo Porges) but did not obtain tenancy there. He went into practice elsewhere specialising in maritime law. In 1973 he was appointed as Junior Counsel to the Ministry of Defence and to the Treasury in maritime and Admiralty matters. In 1978 he "took silk" and became a Queen's Counsel.

Judicial career

In 1982, Phillips was appointed a Recorder and from 1987 was a full-time High Court Judge on the Queen's Bench Division, with the customary knighthood. He took an interest in legal training, and was Chairman of the Council of Legal Education from 1992 to 1997. He presided over several complex fraud trials including those covering the Robert Maxwell pension fund fraud and Barlow Clowes. In 1995, he became a Lord Justice of Appeal and was appointed to the Privy Council. He was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, of Belsize Park in the London Borough of Camden, in 1998.

In early 1999, he was made a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and in 2000 succeeded Lord Woolf as Master of the Rolls. He conducted an inquiry into the outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy. He was also chosen Vice-President of the British Maritime Law Association and of the UCD Law Society. He served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2005 to 2008, when he was reappointed as a Law Lord. Since 2008, Lord Phillips was the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until he became the first President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009. Queen Elizabeth II created him a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter on 23 April 2011.^[3]

Personal life

Phillips is married to Christylle Marie-Thérèse Rouffiac, with whom he has two daughters, and a stepson and stepdaughter, and lives in Hampstead, London. He regularly wakes at 5am and begins work at home before attending the Court. He is a member of Brooks's and the Garrick Club. He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Drapers and of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights, and an honorary fellow of the Society of Advanced Legal Studies and University College London.

He has received honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) from the Universities of Exeter (1998), Birmingham (2003) and London (2004) and the International Institute of Maritime Law, and of Doctor of Civil Law (D.CL) from City University, London (2003). He is also the current Chancellor at Bournemouth University

Styles

• Nicholas Phillips Esq (birth–1978)
• Nicholas Phillips Esq QC (1978–1987)
• The Hon Mr Justice Phillips (1987–1995)
• The Rt Hon Lord Justice Phillips (1995–1999)
• The Rt Hon The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers PC (1999–2011)
• The Rt Hon The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers KG PC (2011–present)

See also

Decided cases

• Moore Stephens v Stone Rolls Ltd [2009] UKHL 39
• Great Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris Salvage (International) Ltd (2002)
• Shogun Finance Ltd v Hudson [2004] UKHL

External links

• Dyer, Clare, He pointed a finger where it ought to be pointed. He didn't go over the top ... He has shown himself to be politic, The Guardian, 23 September 2005.
• BSE enquiry, UK government
• Ministry of Justice: President, Supreme Court
• Lord Phillips interviewed by ReConstitution, in which he expresses views on the new Supreme Court and the role of the Judiciary.

References

1. ^ July 23, 2009 The Times Law 100, 2009 "No surprise, probably, that Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers takes the No 1 slot."
2. ^ BBC news – Lord Phillips, Supreme Court president, to retire early
3. ^ "Lord Phillips and Admiral Boyce made Knights of Garter". BBC News. 23 April 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13168587. 

Legal offices
Preceded by Lord Woolf	Master of the Rolls 2000–2005	Succeeded by Sir Anthony Clarke
	Lord Chief Justice 2005–2008	Succeeded by Lord Judge
Preceded by Lord Bingham of Cornhill	Senior Law Lord 2008–2009	Abolished
New creation	President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom 2009–2012	Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Phillips, Nicholas
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	21 January 1938
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death