New president of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law
The British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) has announced that Dame Rosalyn Higgins DBE QC has decided to stand down as president of the institute and will be succeeded in that office by the Right Honourable The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, KG, PC from 1 February 2016.
Lord Phillips is the immediate past President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He is a long-term BIICL member, and has been involved in BIICL activities, including its Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.
Lord Phillips says: "Ever since I was a student I have been particularly interested in international law, both public and private. I joined the BIICL as a young barrister and I watched its standing grow steadily over half a century, crowned in 2008 by the presidency of Tom Bingham, for whom I had the greatest admiration and affection. In my judicial career I followed in his footsteps, inspired but daunted by the example that he had set. Now I have not only his example, but that of Rosalyn Higgins to inspire me. It is both a great honour and a great pleasure to be invited to succeed them."
Dame Rosalyn says: ‘It was a pleasure, as well as a privilege, to be BIICL president. The outstanding leadership given by the director and the chairman of the trustees means that this is a body going from strength; and I have much enjoyed getting to know the very able staff members and have admired the responsibilities they have undertaken so well. The standard of the celebrated Grotius and FA Mann lectures remain intact; and they are supplemented by the dazzling and frequently offered seminars on contemporary topics."
Sir Frank Berman, chair of BIICL’s board of trustees, says: "BIICL has been hugely privileged over the years by the quality of its Presidents and the example they have shown. Rosalyn Higgins has been devoted to the institute and its best interests, and has been an inspiration in particular to the Institute’s staff and to its younger members. We are deeply grateful to Nicholas Phillips for his ready willingness to assume the mantle and offer leadership over the next period."
Professor Robert McCorquodale, director of BIICL, says: "It is a wonderful statement of the international standing of BIICL and the impact of its work that it has had a succession of excellent Presidents, who have all had long-term commitment and engagement in issues of international and comparative law, and the rule of law. I very much look forward to working with Lord Phillips."
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