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Ian Burnett, Baron Burnett of Maldon

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The Lord Burnett of Maldon
Official portrait, 2022
Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
In office
2 October 2017 – 30 September 2023
Nominated byDavid Lidington
Appointed byElizabeth II
Preceded byThe Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd
Succeeded byThe Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill
Lord Justice of Appeal
In office
2014–2017
Judge of the High Court
In office
2008–2014
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
30 October 2017
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born (1958-02-28) 28 February 1958 (age 66)
Worthing, Sussex, England[1]
SpouseCaroline Ruth Monks (m. 1991)
Alma materPembroke College, Oxford

Ian Duncan Burnett, Baron Burnett of Maldon, PC, DL (born 28 February 1958), is a British judge who served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2017 to 2023.

Early life and education

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Burnett was born on 28 February 1958. He was educated at St John's College, Portsmouth, and studied jurisprudence at Pembroke College, Oxford, where he became an honorary fellow in 2008.[2]

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He was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1980, and was elected a bencher there in 2001. From 1982, he practised at Temple Garden Chambers. He was head of those chambers from 2003. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1998. He practised mainly in public and administrative law, acting on the inquiries into the 1987 Kings Cross fire, the convictions of the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven, the 1997 Southall and 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crashes, and the inquests into the 1997 deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed.[3]

Burnett was an assistant recorder from 1998 to 2000, and then a recorder until 2008. He was authorised to sit as a Judge of the High Court from 2008 (Supreme Court Act 1981, s 9(1)). He was appointed as a Judge of the High Court in 2008, assigned to the Queen's Bench Division.[3] He was knighted on 7 November 2008.[4] He sat in the Administrative Court and was presiding Judge of the Western Circuit 2011–14. He was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2014, becoming a Lord Justice of Appeal.

It was announced in July 2017 that he would replace Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2 October 2017.[5]

Aged 59, he became the youngest Lord Chief Justice since Lord Parker of Waddington in 1958. On 12 October 2017, it was announced that Burnett was to receive a life peerage.[6] He was duly created Baron Burnett of Maldon, of Maldon in the County of Essex, on 30 October 2017.[7][8]

In November 2022, Burnett announced his intention to retire as Lord Chief Justice from 30 September 2023.[9] He was succeeded by Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill as Lady Chief Justice.[10]

In 2023, he was made Chief Justice of the Astana International Financial Centre Court, an international commercial court in Kazakhstan.[11]

Personal life

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Burnett married Caroline Ruth Monks in 1991. They have one son and one daughter.[2] He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Essex in 2024.[12]

References

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  1. ^ England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007.
  2. ^ a b BURNETT Hon. Sir Ian Duncan, Who's Who 2017, A. & C. Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "No. 58700". The London Gazette. 16 May 2008. p. 7469.
  4. ^ "No. 58876". The London Gazette. 7 November 2008. p. 17275.
  5. ^ "Appointment of new Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales". 14 July 2017. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Life peerages: 12 October 2017". HM Government. 12 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Lord Burnett of Maldon". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  8. ^ "No. 62098". The London Gazette. 2 November 2017. p. 20162.
  9. ^ "The Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales today announces his forthcoming retirement from the judiciary". Courts & Tribunals Judiciary. 24 November 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Appointment of Lord Chief Justice: 15 June 2023". Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  11. ^ "New Chief Justice Appointed to the AIFC Court". court.aifc.kz. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  12. ^ "No. 64407". The London Gazette. 28 May 2024. p. 10240.
Legal offices
Preceded by Lord Chief Justice
2017–2023
Succeeded byas Lady Chief Justice
Order of precedence in England and Wales
Preceded by Gentlemen
Baron Burnett of Maldon
Succeeded by