Sir Wyn Lewis Williams, (born 31 March 1951) is a Welsh judge who is the

President of Welsh Tribunals The President of Welsh Tribunals ( cy, Llywydd Tribiwnlysoedd Cymru) is a senior judge in Wales who presides over the Welsh tribunal system. The position was established by the Wales Act 2017 and is the first senior judicial role relating solel ...

. He had been a High Court judge from 2007 until his retirement on 10 February 2017.

Early life and education

Wyn Lewis Williams was born in Ferndale in the

Rhondda Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coal mining, coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fa ...

to Ronald and Nellie Williams. Educated at Rhondda Grammar County school he matriculated at

Corpus Christi College, Oxford Corpus Christi College (formally, Corpus Christi College in the University of Oxford; informally abbreviated as Corpus or CCC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1517, it is the 12t ...

, before entering the

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

School of Law in London.

Legal career

Williams was called to the bar (

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

) in 1974 and made a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

in 2007. He practised in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

from 1974 to 1988 and in London from 1988 to 2004. He became a

Queen's Counsel 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 o ...

in 1992, and served as 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 ...

until his appointment as a specialist Chancery judge for Wales in 2004. On 11 January 2007, Williams 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 ...

, and assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division. He served as a presiding judge for the Wales Circuit and as Deputy Chairman of the Boundary Commission for Wales. He was appointed president of Welsh tribunals in December 2017. In February 2022 he began the

Statutory Inquiry The Inquiries Act 2005 (c 12) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. According to the explanatory notes, published by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, the Act "is intended to provide a comprehensive statutory framework for ...

into the

British Post Office scandal The British Post Office scandal is a miscarriage of justice involving the wrongful civil and criminal prosecutions of an unknown or unpublished number of sub-postmasters (SPMs) for theft, false accounting and/or fraud. The cases constitute the m ...

, projected to continue throughout 2022.

Other activities

He is active in several organisations, being president of Pendyrus Male Choir, and is closely associated with

Tylorstown RFC Tylorstown Rugby Football Club is a rugby union team from the village of Tylorstown, Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Cardiff Blues. It is believed that rugby was played in Tylorstown from 1895, ...

, the

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club for which he played as a youth. His connection with rugby was furthered in 2012 when he was appointed as an unpaid independent chairman of the Professional Regional Game Board, an organisation set up by the Welsh Rugby Union to restructure the sport in Wales. He is an elected

Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales The Learned Society of Wales ( Welsh: Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru) is a learned society and charity that exists to "celebrate, recognise, preserve, protect and encourage excellence in all of the scholarly disciplines", and to serve the Welsh natio ...

(FLSW).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Wyn Lewis 1951 births Living people Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Knights Bachelor People from Ferndale, Rhondda Cynon Taf 21st-century Welsh judges Queen's Bench Division judges Welsh King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel Members of the Inner Temple President of Welsh Tribunals 20th-century Welsh lawyers