His Majesty The King has approved the appointment of Lord Briggs of Westbourne as the next president of the Supreme Court.
The King made the appointment on the advice of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, following the recommendation of an independent selection commission. Lord Briggs will take up his new role in January 2027, when the current president, Lord Reed, retires. Lord Briggs will be the court’s fifth president since it was established in 2009.
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, 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.
Law Society of England and Wales president, Mark Evans, said: “We warmly welcome the appointment of Lord Briggs as the new president of the Supreme Court.
“His work on the modernisation of the civil courts places him well to lead the Supreme Court through the opportunities and challenges presented by AI. We look forward to working with him to ensure AI in the justice system is responsible, transparent and enhances access to justice.”
Lord Briggs was appointed as 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. From 2022 he has also had delegated responsibility for the practice and procedure of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
