Lord Briggs

Justice of the Supreme Court, The Right Hon Lord Briggs of Westbourne

Michael Townley Featherstone Briggs, Lord Briggs of Westbourne became a Justice of the Supreme Court in October 2017.

Lord Briggs grew up around Portsmouth and Plymouth, following his naval officer father between ships, before spending his later childhood in Emsworth in Hampshire. He read History at Magdalen College, Oxford. A keen sailor, singer and the first lawyer in his family, he practised in Lincoln’s Inn from the chambers of Charles Sparrow QC which later became Serle Court, specialising in business and property litigation. He took silk in 1994. He served as chair of the Bar Council’s Law Reform Committee and, from 2001 to 2006, as Attorney General to the Duchy of Lancaster, before being appointed to the High Court in 2006. He was the judge in charge of the extensive Lehman insolvency litigation from 2009 to 2013. From 2011 to 2013 he served as Vice Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster, performing the role of chancery liaison judge for the Northern and North-Eastern Circuits.

Lord Briggs was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2013. He was the judge in charge of the Chancery Modernisation Review in 2013 and led the Civil Courts Structure Review in 2015 to 2016, which recommended the establishment of an online civil court. In January 2016 he was appointed Deputy Head of Civil Justice, and in that capacity served as the de facto head of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee.

Lord Briggs was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court in 2017. From 2022 he has had delegated responsibility for the practice and procedure of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.