Ian Burnett, Baron Burnett of Maldon

Ian Duncan Burnett, Baron Burnett of Maldon, PC (born 28 February 1958) is a British judge and the current Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

The Right Honorable The Lord Burnett of Maldon PC
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 October 2017
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd
Lord Justice of Appeal
In office 2014–2017
Judge of the High Court
In office 2008–2014
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 October 2017
Personal details
Born	28 February 1958 Worthing, Sussex, England[1]
Alma mater	Pembroke College, Oxford

Early life and education

Burnett was born on 28 February 1958. He was educated at St John's College, Portsmouth, and read jurisprudence at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he became an honorary fellow in 2008.[2]

Legal career

He was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1980, and became a bencher there in 2001. From 1982, he practised at Temple Garden Chambers, serving as head of chambers from 2003. He was made a QC in 1998. He practised mainly in public and administrative law, acting on the inquiry into the 1987 Kings Cross fire, the inquiry into the convictions of the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven, the inquiries after the 1997 Southall rail crash and the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crash, and the inquests after the 1997 deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed.

Burnett served as an Assistant Recorder from 1998 to 2000, and then as a Recorder until 2008. He also served as a deputy Judge of the High Court from 2008. He was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in 2008, in the Queen's Bench Division.[3] Burnett was knighted on 7 November 2008.[4] He sat in the Administrative Court and was presiding Judge of the Western Circuit 2011–14. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2014, becoming a Lord Justice of Appeal.

It was announced in July 2017 that he would replace Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2 October 2017.[5]

Aged 59, he became the youngest Lord Chief Justice since Lord Parker of Waddington in 1958. On 12 October 2017, it was announced that Burnett would be awarded a life peerage.[6] He was created Baron Burnett of Maldon, of Maldon in the County of Essex, on 30 October 2017.[7][8]

Personal life

He married Caroline Ruth Monks in 1991, and they have one son and one daughter.[2]

References

1. England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007.
2. BURNETT Hon. Sir Ian Duncan, Who's Who 2017, A. & C. Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016.
3. "No. 58700". The London Gazette. 16 May 2008. p. 7469.
4. "No. 58876". The London Gazette. 7 November 2008. p. 17275.
5. "Appointment of new Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales". 14 July 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
6. "Life peerages: 12 October 2017". HM Government. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
7. "Lord Burnett of Maldon". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
8. "No. 62098". The London Gazette. 2 November 2017. p. 20162.