Sir David Roderick Lessiter Bodey (born 14 October 1947) is a British judge who was a Justice of the High Court of

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

Legal career

Bodey was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, where he was a Harmsworth scholar, in 1970. He became legal assessor to the UK Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting (now the Nursing and Midwifery Council in 1983. He was appointed an Assistant

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

in 1989, and became a

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 1991. He became a Recorder in 1993, and was appointed as a Deputy High Court judge from 1995. That same year (1995), he became a fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a member of the Family Committee of Justice (serving until 1998), was appointed to the Supreme Court (now Senior Courts) Procedure Committee (serving until 1997), and became secretary of the Family Law Bar Association. He was the Association's president in 1997. Bodey was appointed Director of Family Training for the Judicial Studies Board, and continues in that role for the Board's successor, the Judicial College. On 12 January 1999, Bodey was appointed to the High Court, receiving the customary

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

, and assigned to the Family Division. He served as Family Liaison Judge for London from 1999 to 2001, then for the North Eastern Circuit until 2007. He retired from the bench on 15 October 2017.

References

1947 births Living people People educated at The King's School, Canterbury 20th-century English judges Family Division judges Knights Bachelor 21st-century English judges {{UK-law-bio-stub