Theodore Huckle

Theodore Huckle QC is a Welsh barrister and the Counsel General of the Welsh Government.

Personal

Mr Huckle lives near Cardiff with his wife and four daughters.

Early life and Education

Mr Huckle was brought up in Blaenavon by his mother Sylvia (née Lewis) with his brother and two sisters. He was educated at primary and junior schools in Blaenavon and at Jones' West Monmouth Grammar School, Pontypool, before reading Law at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he took B.A., M.A. and LL.M. (International) degrees. He is a Titular Exhibitioner of Jesus College. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn as a Hardwick Entrance Scholar and was in 1984 awarded the Megarry Major Scholarship.

Career History

Mr Huckle was called to the Bar in 1985, and has always lived and practised as a barrister in Wales. In 2008 he was instrumental in establishing Civitas Law chambers as the first specialist civil law chambers in Wales. He was appointed Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2011. With the agreement of the First Minister of Wales and the National Assembly for Wales Mr Huckle continues in private practice as a QC during his appointment as Counsel General.

As a member of Civitas Law Chambers, Mr Huckle’s practice profile included personal injury, especially occupational illness/disease litigation, spinal, head injury and clinical disputes; human rights and commercial matters including employment, fraud and professional negligence. Mr Huckle is also an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Group-accredited mediator. Mr Huckle appeared for the Claimant Miss Baker in the first case of industrial “deafness” (noise-induced hearing loss) to be considered in the Supreme Court (or its predecessor Judicial Committee of the House of Lords): Baker v Quantum Clothing [2011] UKSC 17; [2011] 1 WLR 1003; [2011] ICR 523; [2011] PIQR P14.

Counsel General for Wales

Mr Huckle was appointed Counsel General Designate by the First Minister on 27 May 2011. The National Assembly for Wales gave its approval on 8 June 2011 and the appointment as Counsel General was formally made by Her Majesty the Queen on Friday 10 June 2011.[1][2] The then Presiding Judge of the Wales Circuit, David Lloyd Jones J, undertook the swearing in ceremony on 13 June 2011.

Though not a Minister of the Welsh Government, the Counsel General for Wales is a member of Government under s45 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. The office is considered at ministerial level and the Counsel General is bound by the Ministerial Code. The Counsel General may not be removed from the position except by resolution of the National Assembly for Wales itself.

He is the first person who is not an Assembly Member to hold the office of Counsel General to the Welsh Government as a member of the Government and the first practising lawyer to hold this office.[3]

Mr. Huckle attends Cabinet at the invitation of the First Minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones.

Work as Counsel General

Axa v Lord Advocate [2011] UKSC 46; [2011] 3 W.L.R. 871

In one of his first actions as Counsel General for Wales, Mr Huckle appeared in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in this case, which was an insurers' challenge to the validity of the Scottish Parliament’s Act which overturned the ruling in the Pleural Plaques cases (Rothwell etc.) and made pleural plaques a sufficient injury to attract compensation. There were a number of issues considered by the Supreme Court but of particular interest for the Welsh devolution settlement was the fact that the validity of the Scottish Act was questioned on common law grounds: it was argued by the appellants (insurance companies) that Acts of the Scottish Parliament are open to judicial review as an unreasonable, irrational and or arbitrary exercise of the legislative authority conferred by the Scotland Act 1998 on the Scottish Parliament.

If that contention was held to be right, then Acts of the National Assembly for Wales would similarly be open to judicial review on these grounds. Accordingly, the First Minister of Wales intervened in the appeal in the Supreme Court in order to make representations on the scope of common law challenge so far as Acts of the Assembly were concerned. Mr Huckle appeared before the Supreme Court to make oral representations on behalf of the Welsh Government. This was the first time that the Counsel General for Wales (in the Law Officer role created by the Government of Wales Act 2006) has appeared on behalf of the Welsh Government in the highest court in the land. Lord Hope warmly welcomed the Counsel General to the Supreme Court for the first time in his new office. Mr Huckle argued that the National Assembly for Wales was a democratically elected legislature and that the limits of its powers were set out in the Government of Wales Act 2006 which expressly enables the Assembly to make laws in the same way that the Westminster Parliament makes laws, so that the laws of the Assembly are to be viewed as equivalent in status to those of Westminster provided the Assembly is otherwise acting within the scope of its devolved authority. The Courts could not therefore impose additional limitations that fell outside the scope of the Scotland Act 1998 and, by implication, also the Government of Wales Act 2006.

In their judgment, the seven Supreme Court Justices unanimously agreed with the position of the Welsh Government .Their Lordships held that Acts of the Scottish Parliament could not be subject to judicial review at common law on the grounds of irrationality, unreasonableness or arbitrariness. Acts of the Scottish Parliament would only be open to challenge at common law on the grounds that they were not compatible with the rule of law or that they infringed fundamental rights. The Supreme Court confirmed that the same must apply equally to Acts of the National Assembly for Wales. Whilst the case focused on devolved legislation, some of their Lordships restated the possibility that even Acts of Parliament could be challenged where the legislation was such as to undermine the rule of law or fundamental rights (see Lord Steyn’s observations in Jackson v AG [2005] UKHL 56), although this remains formally undecided.

Access to and rationalisation of Welsh Law

In his first formal statement to the National Assembly for Wales on 4 October 2011, Mr Huckle announced Welsh Government's project to ensure easy public access to the increasing statutory law emanating from the National Assembly, and a review of methods of rationalisation and consolidation of those laws with existing provisions of the law of England & Wales.

Separate Legal Jurisdiction

On 27 March 2012, Mr Huckle launched a public debate on whether Wales should be a separate legal jurisdiction by making a formal statement to the National Assembly for Wales and issuing a Welsh Government Consultation. He leads for Welsh Government on this issue in order to promote and facilitate the public debate.

The Reference to the Supreme Court of the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Bill

Mr Huckle appeared for the Welsh Government before the UK Supreme Court in response to the Reference by the Attorney General for England and Wales of the Local Government Byelaws (Wales) Bill 20, the first of the new Welsh Acts to be passed by the National Assembly (unanimously), providing for a new mechanism for creation of byelaws but without ministerial approval. The Justices unanimously agreed that the Bill was within the competence of the National Assembly.

Professional Associations

Mr Huckle is the Executive Committee Member for Wales of the Personal Injury Bar Association. He is a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (holding the post of Secretary to the Wales section during 2008-11), the Wales Personal Injury Lawyers' Association, the Human Rights Bar Association, the Wales Public Law & Human Rights Association, the Criminal Bar Association, and the Society of Labour Lawyers.

Appointments

Publications

Books and Practitioner reference works

LexisNexisButterworths (2011 edition)

Articles

Offices held

Legal offices
Preceded by
John Griffiths		 Counsel General for Wales
2011 - present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent

References

  1. ↑ Biography on wales.gov.uk, official site of the Welsh Government
  2. ↑ "Huckle appointed counsel general". BBC News. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  3. ↑ Powys, Betsan (6 June 2011). "The new CG and some raised eyebrows". BBC News. Retrieved 5 April 2012.