Lord Sales has been appointed deputy president of the Supreme Court.
He will succeed Lord Hodge, who retires at the end of the year, and will take up the post in January 2026.
The new deputy president was called to the bar in 1985, sat as an assistant recorder from 1999 to 2001, recorder from 2001-2008 and deputy high court judge from 2004 to 2008. In that time, he was also appointed a Queen’s Counsel, as it was, in 2006.
He became a justice of the Supreme Court in January 2019.
He said: ‘It is a great honour to be appointed as the deputy president of the Supreme Court. The court has a reputation around the world as a source of leading judgments of the highest quality in all areas of law. As deputy president, I am looking forward to continuing to uphold the court’s traditions of integrity, impartiality and legal excellence.
‘I am also looking forward to maintaining those same traditions in the work of the judicial committee of the Privy Council, which is the other jurisdiction in which Supreme Court justices make a major contribution to the law.’
A member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal between 2008 and 2015, and vice president of the investigatory powers tribunal between 2014 and 2015, Hodge was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2014.
King Charles approved Lord Sales appointment as deputy president on the advice of the prime minister and lord chancellor, following the recommendation of an independent selection commission, the Supreme Court said.
Lord Reed, Supreme Court president, added: ‘Lord Sales is recognised around the world as an outstanding judge. As deputy president, he will make an even greater contribution to the work of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. I look forward to working with him in his new role.’
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