Sir Terence Etherton would be the first openly gay Master of the Rolls
Rumours are flying around legal London that Downing Street is about to announce its first openly gay Master of the Rolls.
It’s looking likely that the country’s new most senior civil judge is going to be Sir Terence Etherton, who is both openly gay and married to a man.
The vacancy came up when Lord Dyson, who is still the current Master of the Rolls, quit the post in February having expressed unhappiness about legal aid cuts. Though rumours have been circulating about his replacement since then, top legal journalist Joshua Rozenberg set tongues wagging overnight when he said there are “strong rumours” that Etherton is going to be appointed.
Repeating for those who missed last night: strong rumours that Sir Terence Etherton will be appointed Master of the Rolls after Lord Dyson.
— Joshua Rozenberg (@JoshuaRozenberg) May 20, 2016
University of Cambridge graduate Etherton became a QC in 1990, and is currently the head of the Chancery Division. In 2014, he featured alongside Alan Carr and Sue Perkins in The Independent’s list of top LGBT people, and in the same year he married his partner Andrew Stone at a London synagogue.
Though the future appointment is not set in stone just yet, legal commenter Rozenberg — whose connections within the higher echelons of the judiciary are unparalleled — is well placed to make predictions of this nature.
And the legal Twitterati seem pretty happy about the news. Yesterday, Rozenberg himself — who has recently began writing a series for the Legal Cheek Journal, and had previously tipped Etherton as a future candidate for the Supreme Court bench — described the judge as an “excellent choice” for the role.
Other happy commentators include Phillip Marshall QC, who said Rozenberg’s prediction would be “an excellent and hugely satisfying appointment”, and gay academic Dr Steven Vaughan who commented on the “great news”.
Gosh ! that would be an excellent and hugely satisfying appointment #equality https://t.co/wWUXhlrPNi
— PJM QC (@pjm1kbw) May 19, 2016
Great news. Maybe one day the LCJ will include data on the sexuality of judges in the annual diversity stats… https://t.co/Vxuetu5pRr
— Dr Steven Vaughan (@lawvaughan) May 20, 2016
Other big names to hold the title of Master of the Rolls include law student favourite Lord Denning — who has often been accused of homophobia — and current Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger.