Lady Justice Rose joins UK’s top bench next month
Lady Justice Rose has been appointed the newest member of the Supreme Court.
Dame Vivien Rose will join the UK’s top bench on 13 April 2021, it was announced yesterday.
The Queen made the appointment on the advice of the Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, following the recommendations of an independent selection commission.
Welcoming the appointment, the president of the Supreme Court Lord Reed said:
“We at the Supreme Court are delighted that Lady Justice Rose will be joining us as a Justice and look forward to welcoming her to the Court in April. Having spent a substantial part of her career working in government and parliament, LJ Rose will add significantly to the diversity of experience on the court. Her outstanding legal ability and breadth of experience will be invaluable in maintaining the high quality of our judgments and our reputation as an international centre of legal excellence.”
The country’s highest court is comprised of 12 judges: ten men and two women. Rose’s appointment follows the retirement of Lady Black in January this year. She becomes the fourth female Supreme, following Lady Hale, who retired in January, Lady Black and Lady Arden.
Rose completed her undergraduate law degree at Cambridge University and went on to study the bachelor of civil law (BCL) graduate course at Oxford University. She was called to the bar by Gray’s Inn in 1984 and practised from Monckton Chambers, specialising in domestic and European competition law, for ten years.
In 1995 she left private practice to join the Government Legal Service serving as a legal adviser on financial services at HM Treasury until 2001. In 2002 she was appointed to the senior civil service and moved to the Ministry of Defence as director of operational and international humanitarian law. From 2005 to 2008 she was seconded to the Office of Counsel to the speaker of the House of Commons.
In 2006 she was appointed to her first judicial role as chair of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. She was appointed to further tribunal posts and became a recorder in the criminal jurisdiction, South Eastern circuit in 2010.
In 2013 Rose was sworn in as a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division. She was president of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) between 2015 and 2018 and was a nominated judge of the Financial List from its inception. Rose was appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2019.
In its search for a new Supreme, the court said it was keen to attract applications from “those who would increase the diversity of the court”. It even launched a podcast as part of its efforts.