Dame Karen Margaret Steyn (born 20 October 1970)
is a British
High Court judge.
Early life and education
Steyn is the daughter of former
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Lord Steyn
Johan van Zyl Steyn, Baron Steyn, PC (15 August 1932 – 28 November 2017) was a South African-British judge, until September 2005 a Law Lord. He sat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
Early life and education
Steyn was born in Stellen ...
and his wife Jean Steyn and was born
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...
, South Africa and grew up in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, England. She was educated at
Tonbridge Grammar School
Tonbridge Grammar School is a state grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent, United Kingdom. The school was established in 1905 at the Technical Institute in Avebury Avenue Tonbridge, having only 19 enrolled students. Today, the school is situated in ...
and completed a
BA in history at the
University of Liverpool
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
. Following her bachelor's, she completed a
postgraduate law conversion course at
City University and she received
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 ...
's Harmsworth Scholarship.
Career
Steyn was
called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1995. She practised public law, human rights and public international law, from 4–5 Gray's Inn Square from 1996 to 2000, then 11 King's Bench Walk from 2000. She
took silk
In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...
in 2014 and was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 2016.
High Court appointment
On 1 October 2019, Steyn was appointed a judge of the High Court, replacing the retiring
Sir Timothy King, and assigned to the
Queen's Bench Division
The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts.
It hears appeals on point ...
.
She received the customary
damehood in the same year. She serves as a liaison judge for the
Administrative Court
An administrative court is a type of court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are considered s ...
.
In 2020, Steyn served as a temporary
judicial commissioner under the
Investigatory Powers Commissioner
The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 (c. 25) (nicknamed the Snoopers' Charter) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 29 November 2016. Its different parts came into force on various dates from 30 December 2 ...
Sir Brian Leveson. In 2021, Steyn along with
Lady Justice Nicola Davies and
Mrs Justice Jefford comprised the first all-female bench on the
Court of Appeal.
Personal life
In 1997, she married Alexander Glassbrook, with whom she has two sons.
See also
*
Rebekah Vardy v Coleen Rooney
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Karen
Living people
1970 births
British women judges
Alumni of the University of Liverpool
Members of the Middle Temple
Queen's Bench Division judges
People educated at Tonbridge Grammar School
Daughters of life peers
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
21st-century English judges
21st-century British women lawyers