Biographies of the Members of the JCPC Who Will Be Adjudicating Appeals in Cayman

President of the Judicial Committee and the Privy Council and the Supreme Court, The Rt Hon The Lord Reed of Allermuir

Robert John Reed, Lord Reed of Allermuir took up appointment as President of the Supreme Court on 13 January 2020, succeeding Lady Hale of Richmond. Upon this appointment, Lord Reed became a life peer.

Prior to his appointment as President, Lord Reed previously served as Deputy President of the Supreme Court from 7 June 2018 and was originally appointed as a Justice on 6 February 2012.

He studied law at Edinburgh University and undertook doctoral research in law at the University of Oxford. He qualified as an advocate in Scotland and as a barrister in England. He practised at the Scottish Bar in a wide range of civil cases, and also prosecuted serious crime.

He served as a senior judge in Scotland for 13 years. From 2008 to 2012 a member of the Inner House of the Court of Session, and from 1998 to 2008 a member of the Outer House of the Court of Session, where he was the Principal Commercial Judge.

As well as sitting on the Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, he is also a member of the panel of ad hoc judges of the European Court of Human Rights. Lord Reed is also the High Steward of Oxford University.

The Right Hon the Lord Lloyd-Jones, Justice of the JCPC and the Supreme Court

David Lloyd Jones, The Right Hon The Lord Lloyd-Jones, was born and brought up in Pontypridd, Glamorgan where his father was a schoolteacher. He attended Pontypridd Boys’ Grammar School and Downing College, Cambridge. He was a Fellow of Downing College from 1975 to 1991. At the Bar his practice included international law, EU law and public law. He was amicus curiae (advocate to the court) in the Pinochet litigation before the House of Lords.

A Welsh speaker, Lord Lloyd-Jones was appointed to the High Court in 2005. From 2008 to 2011 he served as a Presiding Judge on the Wales Circuit and Chair of the Lord Chancellor’s Standing Committee on the Welsh Language. In 2012 he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and from 2012 to 2015 he was Chairman of the Law Commission. He was appointed as the inaugural President of the Law Council of Wales in October 2021.

Lord Lloyd-Jones first served as a Justice of the Supreme Court between October 2017 and January 2022. He was the first Justice of the Supreme Court to come from Wales. He stepped down as a Justice on 13 January 2022 after reaching the then mandatory retirement age of 70. On his retirement Lord Lloyd-Jones was appointed to the Supplementary Panel of the Supreme Court. Following the increase of the mandatory retirement age for judicial office holders from 70 to 75 in March 2022, Lord Lloyd-Jones successfully applied to be re-appointed as a Justice.

The Right Hon The Lord Briggs of Westbourne, Justice of the JCPC and the Supreme Court

Michael Townley Featherstone Briggs, Lord Briggs of Westbourne became a Justice of the Supreme Court in October 2017.

Lord Briggs grew up around Portsmouth and Plymouth, following his naval officer father between ships, before spending his later childhood in West Sussex. He attended Charterhouse and Magdalen College, Oxford. A keen sailor and the first lawyer in his family, he practised in commercial and chancery work before being appointed to the High Court in 2006. He was the judge in charge of the extensive Lehman insolvency litigation from 2009 to 2013.

Lord Briggs was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2013. He was the judge in charge of the Chancery Modernisation Review in 2013, and led the Civil Courts Structure Review in 2015 to 2016. In January 2016 he was appointed Deputy Head of Civil Justice.

Deputy President of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the Supreme Court, The Right Hon The Lord Hodge

Patrick Stewart Hodge, Lord Hodge, was appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court in January 2020. He was originally appointed as a Justice on 1 October 2013.

Lord Hodge was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983 and appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 1996. From 1997 to 2003, he was a part time Law Commissioner at the Scottish Law Commission.

From 2000 to 2005 he was a Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey, and Procurator to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He was a Senator of the College of Justice between 2005 and 2013. In that role he was a Commercial Judge and the Scottish Judge in Exchequer Causes. He also served as one of the Scottish Intellectual Property Judges and as a Judge in the Lands Valuation Appeal Court.

The Right Hon The Lord Kitchin, Justice of the JCPC and the Supreme Court

David James Tyson Kitchin, Lord Kitchin, became a Justice of the Supreme Court in October 2018.

After studying Natural Sciences and Law at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, Lord Kitchin was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1977. He became a Queen’s Counsel in 1994 and was elected a Bencher of Gray’s Inn in 2003. His practice covered all aspects of intellectual property including patents, trademarks, copyright, designs and trade secrets.

Lord Kitchin was appointed a judge of the High Court, Chancery Division in 2005 and Senior Judge of the Patents Court in 2007. From 2009 to 2011 he was the Chancery Supervising Judge for the Midland, Wales and Western Circuits and, during that time, was also a member of the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office. He was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2011 and was the Lord Justice responsible for the supervision of intellectual property appeals.

Lord Kitchin is the Chair of the Advisory Council of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary University of London and has been awarded an honorary LL.D. by that university. He is also an honorary fellow of Fitzwilliam College.