David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury

The Right Honourable The Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury GBS PC HonFRS
Neuberger in 2017
President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
In office 1 October 2012 – 4 September 2017
Nominated by	Kenneth Clarke
Appointed by	Elizabeth II
Deputy	The Lord Hope of Craighead The Baroness Hale of Richmond
Preceded by	The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers
Succeeded by	The Baroness Hale of Richmond
Master of the Rolls
In office 1 October 2009 – 30 September 2012
Preceded by	The Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony
Succeeded by	Lord Dyson
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office 11 January 2007 – 30 September 2009
Preceded by	The Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead
Succeeded by	Lord Dyson (as Justice of the Supreme Court)
Lord Justice of Appeal
In office 12 January 2004 – 11 January 2007
Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 March 2009
Appointed by	Donald Tsang
Personal details
Born	David Edmond Neuberger (1948-01-10) 10 January 1948
Nationality	British
Spouse	Angela Holdsworth
Children	3
Parents	Albert Neuberger Lilian Dreyfus
Education	Westminster School
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford (MA)
Occupation	Judge
Profession	Barrister
Chinese name
Chinese	廖柏嘉
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Liuh Paak Gā Jyutping Liu6 Paak3 Gaa1

David Edmond Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury GBS PC HonFRS (/ˈnjuːbɜːrɡər/; born 10 January 1948) is an English judge. He served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2012 to 2017. He was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until the House of Lords' judicial functions were transferred to the new Supreme Court in 2009, at which point he became Master of the Rolls, the second most senior judge in England and Wales. Neuberger was appointed to the Supreme Court, as its President, in 2012. He now (controversially) serves as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and formerly served as the Chair of the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom. He is an international judge of the Singapore_International_Commercial_Court.

Early life

Neuberger was born on 10 January 1948, the son of Albert Neuberger, Professor of Chemical Pathology at St Mary's Hospital, University of London, and his wife, Lilian. His uncle was the noted rabbi Herman N. Neuberger. All three of his brothers are or were professors: James Neuberger is Professor of Medicine at the University of Birmingham, Michael Neuberger was Professor of Molecular Immunology at the University of Cambridge, while Anthony Neuberger is Professor in Finance at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick.

He was educated first at The Hall School, Hampstead, then Westminster School, and studied chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford.

Career

After graduation, Neuberger worked at the merchant bank, N M Rothschild & Sons, from 1970 to 1973. Neuberger was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1974, where he became a Bencher in 1993. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1987. He was a Recorder from 1990 to 1 October 1996, when he was appointed a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division and received the customary knighthood.

In 2001, he was made Supervisory Chancery Judge of Midland, Wales and Chester, and of the Western Circuits, a post he held until 12 January 2004, when he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and a member of the Privy Council.

Since 2005, he has been co-chair (with Richard Susskind) of ITAC (Lord Chancellor's Information Technology and Courts Committee.

On 11 January 2007, he succeeded Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and was made a life peer as Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, of Abbotsbury in the County of Dorset, and introduced in the House of Lords on 15 January 2007 between Lord Bingham of Cornhill and his sister-in-law, Baroness Neuberger.

His rise to the Court of Appeal and then to the House of Lords is one of the quickest in recent times. Although Lord Devlin was, at 55, even younger on his own appointment to the House of Lords in 1960, Neuberger was the youngest sitting Law Lord.

It was announced on 23 July 2009 that he would be appointed the next Master of the Rolls, succeeding Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, who became one of the inaugural Justices of the Supreme Court on the retirement of Lord Scott of Foscote. This appointment took effect on 1 October 2009.

Between 2006 and 2007, he led an investigation for the Bar Council into widening access to the Bar. He also served on the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, which reported in July 2009. Other Panel members included Trevor Phillips, head of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, Michael Grade, Chairman of ITV, and Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal.

In May 2010, Neuberger gave an ex tempore dissenting judgment that the trade union Unite had not complied with ballot rules under trade union legislation.

In July 2010 Neuberger ruled that peace protesters in Parliament Square who had camped out in Democracy Village should be evicted after the protesters lost an appeal.

In May 2011, while commenting on super injunctions, he said that social media sites like Twitter were "totally out of control" and society should consider ways to bring such websites under control.

In July 2012, it was announced that Neuberger would succeed Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers as President of the Supreme Court, which post he took up on 1 October 2012.

In February 2017, it was announced that Neuberger would retire "in the Summer" from his role in the Supreme Court.

In 2019 Lord Neuberger advised the Post Office's defence against the claims by 555 sub postmasters that faults in the Post Office's Horizon IT had resulted in the wrongful prosecutions - a key part of the British Post Office scandal. He argued that the judge in the group litigation should “recuse” (dismiss) himself. This is seen as part of the Post Office’s attempts to extend the case in order to increase the legal costs of the postmasters.

He now sits as a voting cross-bench member of the House of Lords and was the Chair of the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, an independent body convened at the request of the UK and Canadian governments until his resignation following his role in pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai's conviction.

Controversial presence on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal

Lord Neuberger was appointed a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in 2009 and continues in that role. In 2018 he was decorated with the Gold Bauhinia Star. UK judges serving on the Hong Kong judiciary had come under increasing criticism in the UK due to Hong Kong’s national security laws. Tom Tugendhat, as chairman of the UK’s parliamentary foreign affairs select committee in July 2020 questioned whether UK judges ought to continue to serve in this way. By the spring of 2022 serving members of the UK Supreme Court, Lord Hodge and Lord Reed, resigned from the Hong Kong judicial panel and criticised the state of civil liberty following the 2020 Hong Kong national security law. The decision to resign was supported by the Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss. At the time, aside from Lord Neuberger, other (retired) British judges continued their panel membership, namely Lord Collins, Lord Hoffman, Lord Phillips, Lord Sumption and Lord Walker. These six judges issued a joint statement in support of their continued panel participation. In March 2024 further impending restrictions on the legal profession were the subject of an expression of serious concern by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI). These restrictions were contained in the Hong Kong Safeguarding National Security Law (SNS Law). On the 6 June 2024 Lords Collins and Sumption resigned from the Hong Kong judicial panel. Hong Kong Chief Executive, John Lee, regretted these resignations and emphasised the independence of the judges from interference. In the week following these resignations, Lord Neuberger resisted pressure to resign. Lords Phillips and Hoffman continued also to serve. Lord Falconer of Thornton described non-resignation as “untenable”. At this point the Jimmy Lai trial was ongoing. On Monday 12 August 2024, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal upheld the conviction and imprisonment of 76 year old British citizen and democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, a decision described as “unjust” by Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong. Lord Neuberger was a member of the court. This created a hostile uproar in the British press: the trial was described as an insult to justice and Lord Neuberger's participation as giving the Hong Kong authorities  “a veneer of legitimacy.” Letters to the Times from distinguished lawyers continued the debate as to whether Lord Neuberger ought morally to resign from the court. Michael Thomas KC insisted not. Derek Wood KC expressed the view Lord Neuberger should reconsider his position.

Selected cases

• Akici v L R Butlin Ltd [2006] WLR 601
• In re Osiris Insurance Ltd [1991] 1 BCLC 182
• Re Park House Properties [1997] 2 BCLC 530
• Yuen v McDonald's Corp (Chancery Division, 27 November 2001) The Daily Telegraph, 6 December 2001
• Re T&D Industries plc [2000] BCC 956
• Krasner v McMath [2005]
• St Helen's MBC v Derbyshire [2007] UKHL 16, [2007] ICR 841
• Stack v Dowden [2007] 2 AC 432, Lord Neuberger gave a powerful dissenting speech in which he warned the majority of violating "principle", departing from established precedence and complicating judicial tasks.
• Ladele v London Borough of Islington [2009]
• British Airways plc v Unite the Union [2010] EWCA Civ
• Manchester City Council v Pinnock [2010] UKSC 45, Lord Neuberger MR sitting in the Supreme Court along with 8 other Justices giving the only judgment,
• The Public Prosecution Service v William Elliott and Robert McKee [2013] UKSC 32
• FHR European Ventures LLP v Cedar Capital Partners LLC [2014] UKSC 45
• Jetivia SA v Bilta (UK) Limited (in liquidation) [2015] UKSC 23
• Marks and Spencer plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Company (Jersey) Ltd [2015] UKSC 72

Awards and honours

He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society in 2017.

In 2018, Neuberger was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

Significant lectures

On 24 February 2014, Neuberger delivered at Cambridge University the Freshfields annual lecture, which he entitled "The British and Europe".

Jimmy Lai Conviction

As a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, Neuberger is flown into Hong Kong and paid approximately £40,000 for each month-long visit. In this role, Neuberger was part of the panel which unanimously dismissed a bid by pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai and six others to overturn their convictions for taking part in a peaceful protest in August 2019. For this action, Neuberger was called "delusional" by Hong Kong's last governor, Lord Patten, and subsequently resigned from the Media Freedom Coalition.

Personal life

Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury speaking at a conference in Singapore in 2016

In 1976, Neuberger married Angela Holdsworth, the TV producer and writer. They have three children, Jessica, Nicholas and Max, who are all solicitors. Neuberger's sister-in-law, through his brother Anthony Neuberger, is Julia Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger, Senior Rabbi of the West London Synagogue.

Neuberger was Chairman of the Schizophrenia Trust from 2003 to 2013, when it merged with and was subsumed by Mental Health Research UK: he is now a Trustee of MHRUK. He was a Governor of the University of the Arts London between 2000 and 2010. He was President of the British Records Association from 2009 to 2012, in his capacity as Master of the Rolls.

On 18 May 2020 he was appointed as Deputy President of The Academy of Experts due to replace Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate as President in late 2020.

Further reading

• Bill Jones; Philip Norton (2014). Politics UK. Routledge. p. 442. ISBN 9781317581031.