Lord Phillips KC
Year of Call 1962 Silk 1978
EXPERTISE
• Arbitration
OVERVIEW
The Right Honourable The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, KG, PC
Lord Phillips is a retired Law Lord and past President of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. Lord Phillips accepts appointments as an
Arbitrator.
He was Called to the Bar in 1962 and took silk in 1978. During his time at the Bar of England and Wales he specialised in Commercial Law
and Admiralty Law. He was appointed a Judge of the Queens Bench Division, where he sat in the Commercial Court. In 1999 he was
elevated to the Court of Appeal, appointed Master of the Rolls in 2000 and Lord Chief Justice in 2005. Lord Phillips was appointed as Senior
Law Lord in 2008 and oversaw the transition of the House of Lords to the Supreme Court in 2009, when he became the Court’s first
President. He remains a non permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong and also the President of the Qatar International
Court & Dispute Resolution Centre.
During his time in Judicial Office he presided over some of the most celebrated legal cases, including the complex prosecutions relating to the
Maxwell Pension Funds, and also of Barlow Clowes. He also conducted the Public Inquiry into the outbreak and effects of BSE.
PRACTICE AREAS
ARBITRATION
Adjudicated Cases with Public International Law elements:
SerVaas Inc v Rafidain Bank [2012] UKSC 40
Issue: whether a debt owed by the Defendant to the Republic of Iraq was commercial, or whether it was immune from execution under the
State Immunity Act 1978.
Serious Organised Crime Agency v Perry [2012] UKSC 35
Issue: whether the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 allowed SOCA to obtain freezing orders and disclosure orders in respect of property and
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persons located outside the UK.
Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority [2012] UKSC 22
Issue: whether a public prosecutor in Sweden was a judicial authority, for the purposes of the Extradition Act 2003.
ML Capital Ltd v Republic of Argentina [2011] UKSC 31
Issue: whether Argentina could rely on the principle of state immunity to prevent enforcement of a judgment against its assets in the UK.
R. (Smith) v Secretary of State for Defence [2010] UKSC 29
Issue: whether British troops on active service overseas were protected by the Human Rights Act 1998.
Her Majesty’s Treasury v Ahmed [2010] UKSC 2
Issue: the lawfulness of certain asset-freezing orders made under the United Nations Act 1946 to give effect to a UN Resolution regarding the
financing of terrorism.
RB (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2009] UKHL 10
Issue: the lawfulness of deportation in a case where the deportees alleged that they would be tortured on their return to their home country.
R. (Hafner) v Westminster Magistrates’ Court [2008] EWHC 524 (Admin)
Issue: the privacy rights of third parties in relation to evidence obtained in London and forwarded to the Australian Securities and
Investment Commission under the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003.
Jersey Fishermen’s Association Ltd v Guernsey [2007] UKPC 30
Issue: the lawfulness of an ordinance passed by the Guernsey parliament relating to fishing inside and outside its territorial waters.
Republic of Ecuador v Occidental Exploration and Production Co [2005] EWCA Civ 1116
Issue: whether an English court has jurisdiction to interpret a bilateral investment treaty in order to determine a jurisdictional challenge to an
arbitral award under the Arbitration Act 1996.
Jones v Saudi Arabia [2004] EWCA Civ 1394
Issue: the operation of the principle of state immunity in a case where a state was alleged to have committed torture.
R. (B) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2004] EWCA Civ 1344
Issue: whether the Human Rights Act 1998 applied to British consular officials in Australia and whether the officials had breached the human
rights of certain asylum-seekers in Australia.
R. (Abassi) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2002] EWCA Civ 1598
Issue: whether the Foreign Secretary had a duty to make representations to the US government on behalf of a British national detained at
Guantanamo Bay.
R. v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, Ex Parte Pinochet [2000] 1 AC 147 (HL)
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Issue: the operation of the principle of the immunity of a head of state, with regard to the extradition of General Pinochet.
Adjudicated General Commercial / Common / Public Law
Moore Stephens (a firm) v Stone Rolls Ltd [2009] UKHL 39 (30 July 2009)
Issue : Extension of Ex Turpi Causa .
Lexington Insurance Co v AGF Insurance Ltd [2009] UKHL 40 (30 July 2009)
Issue : Insurance – follow the settlement convention in reinsurance contracts.
Purdy, R (on the application of) v Director of Public Prosecutions [2009] UKHL 45 (30 July 2009)
Issue :Landmark decision on assisted suicide.
Gray v Thames Trains & Ors [2009] UKHL 33 (17 June 2009)
Issue :Causation principles extended
Generics (UK) Ltd & Ors v H Lundbeck A/S [2009] UKHL 12 (25 February 2009)
Issue : Biotechnology / Patents
Sugar v British Broadcasting Corp & Anor [2009] UKHL 9 (11 February 2009)
Issue : Freedom of Information Act
McKinnon v The United States of America & Anorr [2008] UKHL 59 (30 July 2008)
Issue : Extradition – Hague Convention
McGrath & Ors v Riddell & Ors (Conjoined Appeals) [2008] UKHL 21 (9 April 2008)
Issue : International insolvency
Lesotho Highlands Development Authority v. Impregilo SpA & Ors [2005] UKHL 43 (30 June 2005)
Issue : Rights to Appeal from Arbitration Awards
Shogun Finance Ltd v. Hudson [2003] UKHL 62 (19 November 2003)
Issue : Fraudulent Misrepresentation
CAREER
Born 21 January 1938
1951 – 1956 Bryanston School, where he studied classics.
1958 – 1961 King’s College Cambridge. Exhibitioner – 1st Class degree in Part II Law Tripos.
1962 Called to the Bar by the Middle Temple (Harmsworth Scholar).
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1962 – 1978 Practised at the Bar. Specialising in Admiralty and Commercial work
1973 – 1978 Junior Counsel to the Ministry of Defence and to the Treasury in Admiralty matters.
1978 QC.
1982 – 1987 Recorder.
1987 – 1995 Judge of the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, where sat in the Commercial Court.
Also presided over the Barlow Clowes and Maxwell prosecutions.
1995 Promoted to the Court of Appeal.
12 January 1999 Elevated to Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
6 June 2000 – 2005 Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice.
1 October 2005 Appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
1 October 2008 Appointed Senior Law Lord.
2009 – 2012 President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
13 June 2011 Made a Knight of the Garter.
Positions Held
1975 – 1981 Governor of Bryanston School
1981 – 2008 Chairman of the Governors of Bryanston School
1979 – 1987 Member of the Panel of Wreck Commissioners
1991 – 1997 Chairman British Council Law Advisory Committee
1992 – 1997 Chairman Council of Legal Education
1993 – 2005 Vice President British Maritime Law Association
1998 – 2000 Chairman of the BSE Inquiry
1999 – Advisory Council of Institute of European and Comparative Law
1999 – Council of Management, British Institute of International and Comparative Law
1999 – Honorary Fellow of The Society for Advanced Legal Studies
2000 – 2005 Trustee Magna Carta Trust
2000 – 2005 Visitor – Nuffield College, Oxford
2000 – 2005 Visitor – University College, London
2000 – 2005 Chairman Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Public Records
2000 – Advisory Council of Institute of Global Law
2003 – Honorary Fellow King’s College Cambridge
2005 – President, British Maritime Law Association
2005 – 2008 Visitor, Darwin College, Cambridge
2012 – Distinguished Visitor, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London
Honorary Degrees
1993 Hon LLD, Exeter University
2003 Hon LLD, Birmingham University
2003 Doctor of Civil Law City University, London
2005 Honorary LLD, London University
2007 Hon LLD, International Maritime Law Institute
2009 Doctor of Laws, University of Wolverhampton
2010 Doctor of Laws, Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Recreations
Walking, Swimming, France.
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