Sir David Roderick Evans (born 22 October 1946) is a former judge of the

High Court of England and Wales The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

Early life

Evans studied at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

, before becoming a lecturer in commercial law at the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

. He also became active in

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

, and stood unsuccessfully as the party's candidate in Swansea East at the 1970 general election.

Legal career

Evans 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 ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1970 and made a bencher of Gray's and admitted ''

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'' to

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 2001. He was appointed a

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 ...

on the Wales and Chester Circuit in 1987. In 1989, he 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 ...

. Evans became a circuit judge in 1992, serving as resident judge in Merthyr Tydfil from 1994 to 1998 and resident judge at Swansea from 1998 to 1999. He served as senior circuit judge and Recorder of Cardiff from 1999 to 2001. On 23 April 2001, he was appointed a High Court judge, 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

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 ...

. He served as a presiding judge for the Wales and Chester Circuit from 2004 to 2007 and for Wales in 2007. Evans served as a member of the Criminal Committee of the Judicial Studies Board (now the Judicial College) from 1998 to 2001. In 2002 became a member of the Gorsedd of Bards. He served as secretary of the Association of Judges of Wales in 2008. In 2011, he served as a member of the Parole Board. In 2012, he was chairman of the Wales Committee of the Judicial College. He retired on 1 May 2013, and subsequently took up a position as the Standards Commissioner for the

National Assembly for Wales The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English language, English and () in Welsh language, Welsh, is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes ...

. He resigned from the position in November 2019, after it was revealed that former AM

Neil McEvoy Neil John McEvoy (born 1970) is a Welsh politician who represented the South Wales Central region in the Senedd from 2016 until 2021. He was elected as Member of the Senedd, then known as the Welsh Assembly, on the Plaid Cymru regional li ...

had secretly recorded confidential conversations between Sir Roderick and his staff.

References

1946 births Living people Academics of the University of Wales Alumni of University College London 20th-century Welsh judges Plaid Cymru politicians Queen's Bench Division judges Knights Bachelor 21st-century Welsh judges {{UK-law-bio-stub Pro Chancellors of Swansea University