The Right Honourable
Sir Martin Moore-Bick
Vice President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal
In office
1 October 2014 – 7 December 2016
Preceded byLord Justice Maurice Kay
Succeeded byLady Justice Gloster
Deputy Head of Civil Justice
In office
1 January 2007 – 31 December 2012
Preceded byLord Justice Dyson
Succeeded byLord Justice Richards
Lord Justice of Appeal
In office
7 April 2005 – 7 December 2016
Personal details
Born (1946-12-06) 6 December 1946
Wales
Spouse
Tessa Gee
​
(m. 1974)​
Children4
RelativesJohn Moore-Bick (brother)
Alma materChrist's College, Cambridge

Sir Martin James Moore-Bick, PC (born 6 December 1946)[1] is a retired judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

Early and private life

Moore-Bick was born in Wales, the son of John Ninian Moore-Bick and his wife Kathleen (née Beall).[2] His younger brother, John Moore-Bick, is a retired major-general in the British Army.

He was educated at The Skinners' School, Tunbridge Wells, and Christ's College, Cambridge, of which he became an honorary fellow in 2009.[1][3]

Moore-Bick married Tessa Gee in 1974. They have four children: two sons and two daughters.[2]

Moore-Bick was called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1969, and was elected a bencher in 1992, serving as treasurer in 2015.[2]

He practised as a barrister from chambers at 3 Essex Court, later 20 Essex Street.[4] His practice was in commercial law and, in particular, shipping law.[3] He became a Queen's Counsel in 1986 and was appointed a Recorder in 1990. He was appointed to the High Court on 2 October 1995, receiving the customary knighthood. He was assigned to the Queen's Bench Division, serving in the Commercial Court.

On 7 April 2005, Moore-Bick became a Lord Justice of Appeal, and he was appointed to the Privy Council on 7 June of that year. In the same year, he was appointed to the role of chairman of the Legal Services Consultative Panel, serving until 2009.[4]

Moore-Bick served as Deputy Head of Civil Justice from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2012.[5] Lord Justice Richards took over this role from 1 January 2013 for an initial three-year period.[6] From 1 October 2014 until his retirement, Moore-Bick was Vice President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal.[7] He took over the role on the retirement of Lord Justice Maurice Kay.[8]

Moore-Bick retired from judicial office on 6 December 2016.[9] According to his Chambers' website, on 14 August 2017, "He now accepts appointments as an arbitrator."[4]

Grenfell Tower fire public inquiry

It was announced on 29 June 2017 that Moore-Bick would lead a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.[3][10][11] On 29 and 30 June it was widely reported that the tenants' solicitor in the case against Westminster City Council had said, after Moore-Bick's ruling, that it gave "the green light for social-cleansing of the poor on a mass scale".[12][13][14][15][16] The local Labour MP, Emma Dent Coad, said on 4 July that year that local people had no confidence in Moore-Bick and that he should stand down.[17]

On 25 July, at the second public meeting held by the Inquiry before finalisation of its terms of reference, Moore-Bick faced further calls for his resignation, many residents saying that he did not represent them. In response, Moore-Bick said that he was qualified to lead the investigation, because in his 20 years as a judge, he had looked into "the sort of problems that have to be considered in relation to this fire." He promised that the Inquiry would consider the deregulation of fire safety standards, as well as the multi-million pound refurbishment to Grenfell Tower. "We are going to investigate and find the facts in relation to the whole course of events," he said.[18][19]

The 1,000-page first stage of the report on the Inquiry was formally published on 30 October 2019.

Decided cases

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Sir Martin James Moore-Bick". Burke's Peerage. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 ‘MOORE-BICK, Rt Hon. Sir Martin (James)’, Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 2016 accessed 29 June 2017
  3. 1 2 3 "Grenfell fire: Retired judge to lead disaster inquiry". BBC News. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "Sir Martin Moore-Bick | 20 Essex Street". 20 Essex Street Chambers. Retrieved 14 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Appointment of Deputy Head of Civil Justice". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 9 January 2007. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2017 – via The National Archives.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ↑ "Appointment of new Deputy Head of Civil Justice". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 1 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2013.
  7. ↑ "Appointment of Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Civil): Moore-Bick". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 23 May 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Court of Appeal: Retirement of Lord Justice Kay". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. 1 October 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "Courts and Tribunals Judiciary | Appointment of the new Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Civil)". Judiciary.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  10. ↑ Sam Lister, Jack Hardy. "Grenfell Tower fire: public inquiry to be led by retired Court of Appeal judge Sir Martin Moore-Bick". The Independent. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  11. ↑ Theresa May, Prime Minister (29 June 2017). "Grenfell Tower Fire: Written statement – HCWS18". Hansard. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  12. ↑ "Grenfell inquiry judge let council rehouse tenant 50 miles away". The Guardian. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Grenfell Tower fire: Senior Labour MPs fear judge chosen to lead the inquiry won't have confidence of survivors". The Independent. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  14. ↑ "Who is Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the Grenfell Tower inquiry judge?". The Daily Telegraph. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Controversial judge once accused of 'social cleansing' chosen to lead Grenfell Tower inquiry". Evening Standard. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  16. ↑ "Sir Martin Moore-Bick's Appointment As Grenfell Tower Investigation Head Sparks 'Alarm'". Huffington Post. 30 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  17. ↑ "Grenfell fire: MP calls for inquiry chairman to quit". BBC online. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  18. ↑ "Grenfell Inquiry Judge Told To Resign By Angry Residents As Lack Of Diversity On Panel Is Challenged". Huffington Post. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  19. ↑ "Grenfell fire: Judge in second meeting with angry survivors". BBC online. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
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