Jill Margaret Black, Lady Black of Derwent, (née Currie; born 1 June 1954) is a former
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are the judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom other than President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the president and Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United ...
.
Family
She is the daughter of two medical doctors, James Irvine Currie and Margaret Yvonne Currie.
['BLACK, Rt Hon. Dame Jill (Margaret)', Who's Who 2017, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2017; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2016; online edn, Nov 201]
accessed 28 July 2017
/ref> She was educated at Penrhos College and read law at the University of Durham
Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...
.
Career
She 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 ...
in 1976 at 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 association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...
. She specialised in family law and became a Queen's Counsel
A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...
in 1994 and was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 1996 and a Recorder in 1999.
She was appointed to the High Court on 1 October 1999, and received the customary appointment as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
. She was assigned to the Family Division
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 (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...
, and served as Family Division Liaison Judge to the Northern Circuit from 2000 to 2004. On 15 June 2010, Black became a Lady Justice of Appeal, and was appointed to the Privy Council.
In 2004, she became Chairman of the Judicial Studies Board's Family Committee. She continued in that role until her appointment to the Judicial Appointments Commission
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent commission that selects candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales and for some tribunals whose jurisdiction extends to Scotland or Northern Ireland.
...
as a judicial member in 2008.
It was announced on 21 July 2017 that Lady Justice Black would become the second female judge of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...
, after The Baroness Hale of Richmond. She took office on 2 October 2017, choosing the judicial courtesy title
A courtesy title is a form of address and/or reference in the British system of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer, as well as certain officials such as some judges and members of the Scottish gentry. Thes ...
of Lady Black of Derwent. On 30 October 2020 it was announced that Lady Black of Derwent would retire as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on 10 January 2021.Selection process for Supreme Court Justice launched
, Supreme Court, 30 October 2020
See also
*
List of Durham University people
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Jill
1954 births
Living people
Alumni of Trevelyan College, Durham
English King's Counsel
Family Division judges
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Lady justices of appeal
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
English women judges
20th-century King's Counsel
20th-century English women
20th-century English lawyers
Wives of knights
20th-century British women lawyers
20th-century British women judges
20th-century British judges
Lawyers awarded damehoods