Appointment of new Lady Justice of Appeal confirmed

His Majesty The King has approved the appointment of Mrs Justice Falk as a Lady Justice of Appeal in the Court of Appeal, the Ministry of Justice has announced.

Such appointments are made by His Majesty The King on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor following the recommendation of an independent selection panel.

The selection panel was chaired by Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon. Panel members include Sir Geoffrey Vos, the Master of the Rolls; Lord Kakkar, the Chairman of the Judicial Appointments Commission; and lay Judicial Appointments Commissioners, Ms Sue Hoyle OBE and Ms Jane Furniss CBE.

Law Society of England and Wales President Lubna Shuja said:

“On behalf of the solicitor profession, I would like to offer my congratulations to Lady Falk.

Solicitors bring particular skills and experiences to the judicial process and decision-making. They also come from more diverse backgrounds than the barristers who traditionally populate the bench.

Lady Falk is currently the only solicitor on the Court of Appeal, and will be only the 20th Lady Justice of Appeal ever, which demonstrates there is still much progress to be made before the judiciary reflects wider society.

I’m sure her appointment will encourage solicitors with judicial aspirations that there need be no limits to their ambition. We hope to see more solicitors bringing their skills to the judiciary in this way.”

Biography

Mrs Justice Falk qualified as a solicitor in 1986 and went on to become a partner at a city law firm.

In 2015 she was appointed as a fee-paid deputy judge of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber). From then until her appointment to the High Court she sat regularly in the First-tier Tax Tribunal and Upper Tribunal.

She was appointed as a High Court Judge in 2018, assigned to the Chancery Division. She was a Judicial Commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission from 2019 to 2022.