Nicholas Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers

Nicholas Addison Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers PC, (born 21 January 1938) is a British judge who was Master of the Rolls from 2000 to 2005 and has been Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales since 1 October 2005. 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. It has been reported that Lord Phillips will be appointed Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary to take effect on Lord Bingham's retirement in September 2008.^[1] As a result, Lord Phillips will be the first President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom when it comes into existence in October 2009.^[1]

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 (Middle Temple) where he was the Harmsworth Scholar. He went into practice as a barrister, specialising in maritime law matters. 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.

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 (BSE). He is also Vice-President of the British Maritime Law Association and of the UCD Law Society

[edit] Styles

Legal offices
Preceded by The Lord Woolf	Master of the Rolls 2000–2005	Succeeded by Sir Anthony Clarke
Preceded by The Lord Woolf	Lord Chief Justice 2005–present	Incumbent
Order of precedence in England and Wales
Preceded by The Rt Hon Michael Martin MP Speaker of the House of Commons	Gentlemen Lord Chief Justice	Succeeded by The Most Hon The Marquess of Cholmondeley KCVO Lord Great Chamberlain