Michael Townley Featherstone Briggs popularly known as Lord Briggs of Westbourne has been appointed the next President of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, succeeding Lord Reed when he retires in January 2027.
The appointment was approved by His Majesty The King on the advice of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, following the recommendation of an independent selection commission, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
“Lord Briggs will take up his new role in January 2027, when the current President, Lord Reed, retires,” the statement said according to a Tuesday release on the Home Office website.
Briggs will become the fifth President of the Supreme Court since the court was established in 2009.
The Supreme Court’s official biography describes Briggs, whose full name is Michael Townley Featherstone Briggs, as a Justice of the Supreme Court since October 2017.
It said he “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,” the court said.
The Supreme Court said Briggs was the judge in charge of the extensive Lehman insolvency litigation from 2009 to 2013.
His judicial career later took him to the Court of Appeal and into major reforms of England and Wales’ civil justice system.
“Lord Briggs was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2013,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
“He was the judge in charge of the Chancery Modernisation Review in 2013 and led the Civil Courts Structure Review in 2015 to 2016, which recommended the establishment of an online civil court.”
“In January 2016 he was appointed Deputy Head of Civil Justice, and in that capacity served as the de facto head of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee,” the statement added.
Briggs was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2017.
“During his time in the Court he has been engaged in a range of judicial work, but particularly a series of cases about the role of equity and fiduciary duty in our common law,” the Prime Minister’s Office said.
The statement added: “From 2022 he has also had delegated responsibility for the practice and procedure of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.”
The Supreme Court biography also notes that Briggs became a Justice of the Supreme Court in October 2017, bringing to the country’s highest court a career spanning commercial law, chancery practice, civil justice reform and complex litigation.
His appointment as President will take effect in January 2027, when Lord Reed steps down from the position.
