Sir Ian Burnett will be the next Lord Chief Justice, Downing Street has announced.
Lord Justice Burnett, 59, will take up his new role in October, replacing Lord Justice Thomas.
Burnett LJ, who is married with two children, was called to the Bar in 1980, practising in common law, personal injury and health and safety regulations from Temple Garden Chambers. He took silk in 1998 and became a Bencher in 2001. He was appointed a judge of the High Court, Queen’s Bench Division, in 2008 and promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2014. In 2015, he was appointed vice-chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission.
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
