Swearing-in of Sir David Richards as a Justice of the Supreme Court
Monday 3 October, 9.30am
Sir David Richards
On Monday 3 October at 9.30am, Sir David Richards will be sworn in as a new Justice of the UK Supreme Court. This coincides with the start of the legal year.
The ceremony will take place in Courtroom 1 in the presence of the other Justices, Sir David's family, friends and invited guests.
Public and press can watch the ceremony via the live stream, which will be available on the Supreme Court homepage. A short time after the event, the video footage of the swearing-in will be available to view 'on demand' via the Court's YouTube channel.
Sir David Anthony Stewart Richards studied Law at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar in 1974 and took Silk in 1992. Whilst at the Bar, Sir David's principal area of practice was company law and corporate insolvency.
He was appointed a deputy High Court Judge in 2001, a High Court Judge (Chancery Division) in 2003, a chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2004 and chairman of the Insolvency Rules Committee from 2005 to 2015. He was the Chancery Supervising Judge for the Northern and North Eastern Circuits and Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster from 2008 to 2011.
Sir David was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal and made a Privy Counsellor in 2015. He retired as a Lord Justice of Appeal, after reaching the then mandatory retirement age of 70, in June 2021. Thereafter, he practised as an arbitrator and legal expert, as well as continuing to sit in the Court of Appeal as a retired Judge on a part time basis. He also sat in appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
He was elected a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 2000 and Treasurer of the Inn for 2020-21. He served as Chairman of the Lincoln's Inn Finance and General Purposes Committee from 2014 to 2019. He was a director of the International Insolvency Institute from 2015 to 2019 and co-chair of its Judicial Committee from 2012 to 2019.
To request an image of Sir David Richards following the ceremony please email cloe.ofori@supremecourt.uk. You can gain access to the footage of the ceremony through contacting Millbank, in the usual way.
The appointment of Sir David Richards was announced by 10 Downing Street on 17 August 2022.
For further information, or if you have any questions, please contact:
Scot Marchbank - Head of Communications
Cloe Ofori - Media and Communications Manager