We are pleased to announce that The Rt. Hon. Lord Justice Peter Coulson has succeeded The Rt. Hon. Lady Justice Nicola Davies DBE as Treasurer 2024.
In 1982, he was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn and in 2006 he was elected a Master of the Bench by Gray’s.
With over 20 years of experience at the Construction and Commercial Bar, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2001 (now King’s Counsel), in 2002 he took on the role of Recorder, and by 2004 he became a Senior Circuit Judge, attached to the Technology and Construction Court.
In January 2008, he was appointed as a High Court Judge, and served as the Presiding Judge on the North Eastern Circuit from 2011 to 2014. From 2014 to 2017, he held the position of Judge in charge of Estates, followed by the role of Judge in charge of the Technology and Construction Court from 2015 to 2017.
In September 2017, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal where he became the Deputy Head of Civil Justice. In March 2018 he was appointed Lord Justice of Appeal.
Beyond his judicial duties, he has also been an active member of the Board of the Kalisher Trust. He has also been a Trustee of the Orchard Vale Trust for 15 years, and is in his second stint as a member of the Board of the Academy of St Martins in the Fields.
He wants to continue his predecessor’s focus on inclusivity, and in particular on encouraging those from non-traditional backgrounds to become Members of the Inn.
Lord Justice Peter Coulson comments:
“I came from a background with no money and no contacts. I was the first in my family to go to university, and it was a modern university with a very new law school.
Everyone scoffed at the idea that I might become a barrister. But thanks in large part to the Inn, and the scholarship it gave me, I was able to succeed.
Since then of course, social mobility has slowed to a crawl. We need to do all we can to reverse that trend at the bar.”