The Right Honourable Lord Harry Woolf, Former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

The Right Honourable Lord Harry Woolf, Former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales

Lord Woolf was called to the Bar in 1955.  From 1973-74 he served as junior counsel, Inland Revenue, representing the Revenue in a majority of their leading cases before the High Court, Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. In 1974 he was appointed first Treasury Counsel a post he held for five years.  

In 1979, Lord Woolf was appointed to the Queen’s Bench of the High Court, and became Lord Justice of Appeal in 1986 and a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1992.  From 1996 - 2000 he held the position of Master of the Rolls and in 2000 was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, a position from which he retired in September 2005.  He continues to be a part time judge of the Appellate Committee of the House of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Lord Woolf has a long-standing interest in alternative dispute resolution and mediation.  His report, Access to Justice 1996 was generally acknowledged to have transformed Civil Procedure in England and Wales.  In 1990 the “Strangeways Report” written for the British Prison System is still regarded as a blueprint for a secure, efficient and humane rehabilitative Prison System.  He is Chairman of the sub-committee of the House of Lords on Parliamentary Standards and a member of the House of Lords Committee on the Constitution. 

Lord Woolf has written numerous articles for legal journals and frequently speaks at conferences around the world. He is Chairman of the Council of University College, London, honorary visiting Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Visitor to Downing College Cambridge, Pro-Chancellor of London University and also holds honorary degrees from twelve universities, including London, Oxford, Cambridge and Malaya. 

He is an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Medical Sciences, UCL and the US College of Trial Lawyers and an Honorable  Member of the American Law Institute.  Lord Woolf is President, Chairman or Patron of many charities.