| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable | ||||||||
| The Lord Reed of Allermuir | |||||||||
| Honorific-Suffix: | FRSE | ||||||||
| Office: | President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | ||||||||
| Term Start: | 13 January 2020 | ||||||||
| Nominator: | David Gauke | ||||||||
| Appointer: | Elizabeth II | ||||||||
| Predecessor: | The Baroness Hale of Richmond | ||||||||
| Deputy: | Lord Hodge | ||||||||
| Office1: | Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | ||||||||
| Nominator1: | David Gauke | ||||||||
| Term Start1: | 7 June 2018 | ||||||||
| Term End1: | 13 January 2020 | ||||||||
| President1: | The Baroness Hale of Richmond | ||||||||
| Predecessor1: | The Lord Mance | ||||||||
| Successor1: | Lord Hodge | ||||||||
| Office2: | Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | ||||||||
| Nominator2: | Kenneth Clarke | ||||||||
| Monarch2: | Elizabeth II | ||||||||
| Term Start2: | 6 February 2012 | ||||||||
| Term End2: | 7 June 2018 | ||||||||
| Predecessor2: | The Lord Rodger of Earlsferry | ||||||||
| Office3: | Senator of the College of Justice | ||||||||
| Term Start3: | 1998 | ||||||||
| Term End3: | 2012 | ||||||||
| Nominator3: | Tony Blair | ||||||||
| Monarch3: | Elizabeth II | ||||||||
| Office4: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | ||||||||
| Term Start4: | 16 January 2020 (Judicial Peer not sitting in the House) Life Peerage | ||||||||
| Office5: | Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong | ||||||||
| Term Start5: | 31 May 2017 | ||||||||
| Term End5: | 30 March 2022 | ||||||||
| Appointer5: | Leung Chun-ying | ||||||||
| Birth Date: | 1956 9, df=yes | ||||||||
| Birth Place: | Scotland | ||||||||
| Birthname: | Robert John Reed | ||||||||
| Nationality: | British | ||||||||
| Spouse: | Jane Mylne, Lady Reed | ||||||||
| Education: | George Watson's College | ||||||||
| Module: |
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Robert John Reed, Baron Reed of Allermuir, (born 7 September 1956) is a Scottish judge who has been President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since January 2020. He was the principal judge in the Commercial Court in Scotland before being promoted to the Inner House of the Court of Session in 2008. He is an authority on human rights law in Scotland and elsewhere; he served as one of the UK's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights. He was also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.
Reed was educated at George Watson's College in Edinburgh (where he was dux), and studied at the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh, taking a first class honours LLB degree and winning a Vans Dunlop Scholarship. He then obtained a DPhil at Balliol College, Oxford, with a doctoral thesis on "Legal Control of Government Assistance to Industry",[1] and was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983.[2] [3]
Reed was Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Education Department from 1988 to 1989, and to the Scottish Office Home and Health Department from 1989 to 1995. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1995, and Advocate Depute in 1996. He was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary, the country's College of Justice, in 1998, with the judicial title Lord Reed. He sat initially as a Judge of the Outer House, becoming Principal Commercial Judge in 2006. He has been one of the United Kingdom's ad hoc judges at the European Court of Human Rights,[4] and sat in the Grand Chamber judgements on the appeals of the killers of James Bulger in 1999.
Between 2002 and 2004, Reed was an expert advisor to the EU/Council of Europe Joint Initiative with Turkey. He was promoted to the Inner House (First Division) in 2008, and appointed to the Privy Council.[2] [3] He sat on the UK Supreme Court during the illness of Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, along with Lord Clarke,[5] and succeeded Lord Rodger.[6]
He has been Chairman of the Franco-British Judicial Co-operation Committee since 2005, and was President of the EU Forum of Judges for the Environment from 2006 to 2008, now serving as Vice-President. He was a member of the Advisory Board of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law from 2001 to 06, and of the UN Task Force on Access to Justice since 2006. He is Convener of the charity Children in Scotland (since 2006) and Chairman of the University of Edinburgh Centre for Commercial Law (since 2008). He has been an Honorary Professor of Law at Glasgow Caledonian University since 2005, and the School of Law of the University of Glasgow since 2006.[2] [3]
On 20 December 2011, it was announced that Reed would replace the late Lord Rodger of Earlsferry as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.[7] He was sworn in on 6 February 2012.[8]
Lord Reed was Convener of the Children in Scotland Board from February 2006–March 2012.On 31 May 2017, he assumed office as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.[9] On 30 March 2022, he tendered his resignation as a Hong Kong judge, citing concerns about the national security law.[10]
Reed was appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in May 2018, succeeding Lord Mance on his retirement. He was sworn into the new position on 6 June 2018.[11]
On 25 January 2019, he was made an Honorary Fellow of The Academy of Experts in recognition of his contribution and work for Expert Witnesses.On 24 July 2019, the Queen declared her intention to appoint him President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and to raise him to the peerage. He succeeded Baroness Hale of Richmond as President on 11 January 2020 on her retirement[12] and on the same day was created a life peer as Baron Reed of Allermuir, of Sundridge Park in the London Borough of Bromley.[13] He was sworn in as president on 13 January and introduced to the House of Lords on 16 January.
Writing for the UK Constitutional Law Association, Lewis Graham of the University of Oxford examined the empirical evidence relating to judgements of the Supreme Court under Reed up to April 2022, and found that it has been "more conservative when it comes to public law" compared to previous years.[14]
Lord Reed's judgments are characterised by an in-depth analysis of the common law.[15] He has handed down judgements on various important topics of the law:
In 2015 Reed was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[32] Lord Reed is High Steward of the University of Oxford and succeeded Lord Rodger as Visitor of Balliol College, Oxford.[33]
He married Jane Mylne, Lady Reed in 1988, with whom he has two daughters.[34]