Ben Stephens, Lord Stephens of Creevyloughgare

Last updated

Nicola Gladys Skrine
(m. 1982)
Lord Stephens of Creevyloughgare
Lord Stephens of Creevyloughgare 2020.jpg
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Assumed office
1 October 2020
Alma mater University of Manchester

William Benjamin Synge Stephens, Lord Stephens of Creevyloughgare, PC (born 28 December 1954) [1] is a British judge who serves as a Justice of the United Kingdom Supreme Court and previously served as a Lord Justice of Appeal on the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal.

Contents

Early life and education

He was educated at independent Swanbourne House School and Campbell College. He attended the University of Manchester and graduated with a first-class LLB. [1]

Career

In 1977 he was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1978, and the Bar of Ireland in 1996. He was appointed a QC in 1996. He was appointed a High Court judge in Northern Ireland in 2007, and as such he received the customary knighthood. [2] He was appointed to the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland in September 2017. As an Appeal Court Judge he was sworn in as a Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2017. [3]

On the 1 October 2020 he become a Justice of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, following the retirement of Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore. [4] On assuming office, he took the judicial courtesy title of Lord Stephens of Creevyloughgare. In 2022, he and Lord Hamblen of Kersey gave the ruling in ZXC v Bloomberg that individuals investigated by police have a reasonable expectation of privacy not to be named in the media unless charged with an offence. [5]

Personal life

He married Nicola Gladys Skrine in 1982, with whom he has one son and one daughter. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales</span> Head of the judiciary of England and Wales

The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond</span> British judge (born 1945)

Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond,, is a British judge who served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2017 until her retirement in 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Supreme Court of the United Kingdom</span> Final court of appeal in the United Kingdom

The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the United Kingdom's highest appellate court for these matters, it hears cases of the greatest public or constitutional importance affecting the whole population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chief Justice of Ireland</span> Head of the judiciary of the Republic of Ireland

The chief justice of Ireland is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland. The chief justice is the highest judicial office and most senior judge in Ireland. The role includes constitutional and administrative duties, in addition to taking part in ordinary judicial proceedings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Mance, Baron Mance</span> British judge (born 1943)

Jonathan Hugh Mance, Baron Mance, is a retired British judge who was formerly Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Clarke, Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony</span> British judge (born 1943)

Anthony Peter Clarke, Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, is a British lawyer. He was one of the first 11 Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Justices and was the first High Court judge to be appointed directly to that court when it came into existence on 1 October 2009 without previously having sat as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. He was appointed to the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong on 11 April 2011 as a non-permanent judge. He was previously Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales. He retired from the Supreme Court in September 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury</span> English judge (born 1948)

David Edmond Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury is an English judge. He served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2017. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until the House of Lords' judicial functions were transferred to the new Supreme Court in 2009, at which point he became Master of the Rolls, the second most senior judge in England and Wales. Neuberger was appointed to the Supreme Court, as its President, in 2012. He now serves as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the Chair of the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore</span> Northern Irish senior judge (1948–2020)

Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore,, was a Northern Irish barrister and a senior judge. He held office as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland and then as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. In 2009, he was the last person to receive a law life peerage under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. At the time of his retirement on 30 September 2020, he was the longest-serving justice of the Supreme Court, and the court's last original member.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir</span> President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Robert John Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, is a Scottish judge who has been President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2020. He was the principal judge in the Commercial Court in Scotland before being promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session in 2008. He is an authority on human rights law in Scotland and elsewhere; he served as one of the UK's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights. He was also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Hamblen, Lord Hamblen of Kersey</span> British judge (born 1957)

Nicholas Archibald Hamblen, Lord Hamblen of Kersey, PC is British judge currently serving as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Prior to his judicial career, Hamblen was a specialist in maritime and commercial law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Briggs, Lord Briggs of Westbourne</span> British judge (born 1954)

Michael Townley Featherstone Briggs, Lord Briggs of Westbourne, is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He served earlier as a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dyson, Lord Dyson</span> British judge

John Anthony Dyson, Lord Dyson, is a former British judge and barrister. He was Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice, the second most senior judge in England and Wales, from 2012 to 2016, and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2012. He was the first justice to be appointed who was not a peer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom</span> The judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are the judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom other than the president and the deputy president of the court. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases from the jurisdictions of England and Wales and Northern Ireland. Judges are appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the prime minister, who receives recommendations from a selection commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Wilson, Lord Wilson of Culworth</span> British Supreme Court judge (born 1945)

Nicholas Allan Roy Wilson, Lord Wilson of Culworth, PC known as Lord Wilson, is a retired British judge. On 26 May 2011, he became a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, having previously served as a Lord Justice of Appeal since 2005. Lord Wilson has specialised in family law throughout his career. In December 2016, as one of the 11 Justices of the Supreme Court, Lord Wilson heard the Government's appeal of R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on the use of prerogative powers to start the process of leaving the European Union following the referendum on 23 June 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rabinder Singh (judge)</span> British judge (born 1964)

Sir Rabinder Singh, PC, styled The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Singh, is a British Court of Appeal judge and President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, formerly a High Court judge of the Queen's Bench Division, a King's Counsel and barrister, formerly a founding member of Matrix Chambers and a legal academic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Leggatt, Lord Leggatt</span> British judge (born 1957)

George Andrew Midsomer Leggatt, Lord Leggatt, is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest court of law in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Richards, Lord Richards of Camberwell</span> British judge (born 1951)

David Anthony Stewart Richards, Lord Richards of Camberwell, PC is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Sir Stephen John Irwin, is a retired British judge and barrister. From September 2016 until October 2020, he was a Lord Justice of Appeal. From May 2006 to 2016, he served as a judge of the High Court of England and Wales.

Turlough O'Donnell, PC was an Irish lawyer and judge. He was a Lord Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland from 1979 to 1989.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Stephens of Creevyloughgare, Rt Hon. Lord, ((William) Ben(jamin Synge) Stephens) (born 28 Dec. 1954)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u245636. ISBN   978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  2. "The Government Says". thegazette.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2020.
  3. "Two new Lords Justices of Appeal sworn in". Irish Legal News. 7 September 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  4. "New appointment to the UK's top appeal court". UK Supreme Court. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  5. Croft, Jane (16 February 2022). "Bloomberg loses UK court case on suspect's right to privacy" . Financial Times. Retrieved 16 February 2022.