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 the president and the deputy president. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United Kingdom for civil and crimi ...

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 university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

. She married David Charles Black in 1978. They had a son and a daughter. After they were divorced in 2013, she married fellow Court of Appeal judge Sir

Richard McCombe Sir Richard George Bramwell McCombe, PC (born 23 September 1952), is an English barrister and former member of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. McCombe attended Sedbergh School and Downing College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar i ...

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 associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

. She specialised in family law 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 1994 and was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 1996 and 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 ...

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 contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established 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 and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

, 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 A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Justice ...

, and was appointed to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. 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. Sy ...

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 or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the Unite ...

, after

Lady Hale Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, (born 31 January 1945) is a British judge who served as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2017 until her retirement in 2020, and serves as a member of the House of Lords ...

, taking office on 2 October 2017. On 30 October 2020 it was announced that Lady Black 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

References

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 people Wives of knights {{UK-law-bio-stub

Family

Career

See also

References