Lord Justice Burnett, 59, will take up his new role of Lord Chief Justice in October, replacing Lord Justice Thomas. Burnett LJ, who is married with two children, was called to the Bar in 1980, practising from Temple Garden Chambers. As a barrister, he acted as junior counsel to the King’s Cross fire inquiry and the inquiry into the convictions of the Guildford Four and Maguire family. He was lead counsel to the inquiry into the Southall rail crash, and counsel to the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed.