Tribunal members

Present Members   

Lord Justice Singh (President)

The Right Honourable Sir Rabinder Singh has been a member of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal since 2016 and was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in October 2017. He was appointed President on 27 September 2018.

Lord Justice Singh was called to the Bar in 1989 and practised at the Bar from 1990 to 2011. He was on the Attorney General’s Panels of Junior Counsel to the Crown from 1992 to 2002. He was also additional Junior Counsel to the Inland Revenue from 1997 to 2002. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2002 and Chaired the Administrative Law Bar Association from 2006 to 2008.

From 2003 to 2011 he was a Deputy High Court Judge and Recorder of the Crown Court from 2004 to 2011. He was appointed High Court Judge - Queen's Bench Division - in October 2011 and was a Presiding Judge of the South Eastern Circuit from 2013 to 2016. He was also Administrative Court liaison judge for Wales and the Midland and Western circuits during 2017.

He was a visiting Professor of Law at the London School of Economics from 2003 to 2009 and has been an Honorary Professor of Law at Nottingham University since 2007 and a Visiting Fellow, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford since 2016.
His publications include 'The Future of Human Rights in the UK (1997)' and as co-author with Sir Jack Beatson and others, 'Human Rights: Judicial Enforcement in the UK (2008)'.

Lord Boyd (Vice President)

The Right Honourable Lord Boyd of Duncansby  was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Courts (Scotland) in June 2012. He qualified as a solicitor in 1978 and was called to the Bar in 1983. He was appointed QC in 1995. He practised at Caesar & Howie from 1978 to 1982 and as an Advocate from 1983 to 1997 building up a practice in civil and particularly planning law.

He acted as Advocate Depute from 1993 to 1995 and was appointed Solicitor General for Scotland (for the UK Government) in 1997 and for the Scottish Executive in 1999. Lord Boyd was Lord Advocate from 2000 to 2006. His time in office saw the devolution of legislative responsibility to the new Scottish Parliament and the introduction of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law. He brought in significant reforms to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. He was also responsible for the prosecution of the Lockerbie trial.

He returned to practice as a solicitor advocate in 2007 joining Dundas & Wilson, Solicitors as a Consultant and Head of Public Law. He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 2000. He became a Life Peer in 2006.

Mr Justice Chamberlain

Mr Justice (Martin) Chamberlain was called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1997. He specialised in public law, human rights and EU and international law. Mr Justice Chamberlain was a member of the Attorney General’s panels of counsel and acted for and against the Crown and other public bodies. He served as a Special Advocate in national security proceedings and was appointed a QC in 2013 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 2016. He was also Chair of the Constitutional and Administrative Law Bar Association. He was appointed a High Court Judge in October 2019.

Lord Justice Edis

Lord Justice Edis was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in January 2021. He was appointed as a High Court Judge in October 2014, assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division.  He was educated at Liverpool College and University College, Oxford.  Called to the Bar in 1980, he took silk in 1997.  His practice in silk included prosecuting and defending serious criminal cases, including terrorism.  He was appointed Senior Treasury Counsel at the Central Criminal Court and served from 2008-2014.  He was Head of Chambers at Atlantic Chambers in Liverpool from 2000-2006.

Lady Carmichael

Lady Carmichael was appointed to the Tribunal on 6 November 2019. She has been a Senator of the College of Justice (judge in the Supreme Courts of Scotland) since 2016. She is a graduate of the University of Glasgow and called to the Bar in 1993, taking silk in 2008. In practice, she specialised in public and administrative law. She served as standing Junior Counsel to the Home Department between 2000 and 2008. She acted as counsel to the Fingerprint Inquiry Scotland. She was appointed as a legal member of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland in 2005; a part-time sheriff in 2007; and a Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) in 2014

Mrs Justice Lieven

Mrs Justice Lieven was appointed to the Tribunal on 6 November 2019. She was Called to the Bar in 1989 and took Silk in 2006. She was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2016 and took up appointment as a High Court Judge on 11 January 2019 assigned to the Family Division. Mrs Justice Lieven also sits in the Administrative Court.

Charles Flint QC

Charles Flint QC is a former head of Blackstone Chambers. He specialises in financial services regulation and acts as a mediator in banking and financial services disputes. He is a non-executive director of the Dubai Financial Services Authority, a deputy chairman of the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund Limited, a member of the Club Financial Control Panel of the Union of European Football Associations and President of the National Anti-Doping Panel. He has been a Member of the Tribunal since 2009.

Francesca Del Mese

Francesca Del Mese was called to the Bar in 1998. She is now an international criminal and human rights lawyer. Francesca has held many positions, both in the UK and overseas, including the Senior Strategy Advisor on counter-terrorism with the UN Assistant Secretary General in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations New York, the Justice Advisor for the UK government in Pakistan, and the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Prosecutions Advisor in Ghana. She is a former Commissioner for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, and has led a number of independent evaluations and inquiries for the UN. In 2011 she was the Legal Advisor to the UN Mission of Inquiry into Atrocities Committed in Syria. Francesca was appointed a Recorder in 2019 and also chairs panels into serious police misconduct.  She was appointed to the Tribunal in 2022.

Christopher Symons QC

Christopher Symons QC practised as a commercial barrister from 3 Verulam Buildings Gray’s Inn until 2016. He was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1972 and took silk in 1989. His practice largely consisted of insurance and reinsurance matters with some professional negligence work. He was head of chambers from 2000 to 2011. He now sits as a Commercial Arbitrator dealing with commercial disputes in London and elsewhere. He sat both as a Recorder of the Crown Court and as a Deputy High Court Judge where much of his time was spent sitting in the Administrative Court. He was the Treasurer of Middle Temple in 2013. He is the President of the Lloyd’s Appeal Tribunal dealing with disciplinary matters arising from Lloyd’s of London. He was made a Member of the Tribunal in 2018.

Annabel Darlow KC

Annabel Darlow KC was called to the Bar in 1993 (Middle Temple) and took silk in 2015. She practises from 21 College Hill, primarily in criminal law with a particular emphasis on serious and complex crime, including homicide, terrorism and fraud. She was appointed as a Recorder of the Crown Court in 2009 and authorised to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge (KBD) in 2022.

Judge Rupert Jones

Judge Rupert Jones is Chief Justice of a British Overseas Territory and a salaried Judge of the Upper Tribunal in the United Kingdom. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2000 and was a member of the Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel. He specialised in the proceeds of crime, indirect tax and public law including national security cases. He was appointed as the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions of Anguilla in 2014. He was appointed as fee paid judge of the First-Tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) in 2015 and a salaried Judge of the Upper Tribunal assigned to the Administrative Appeals Chamber in 2018. He was assigned to the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) in 2020. In 2022 he was authorised to sit as a Judge of the High Court (Queen’s Bench Division). In the same year he was appointed the Chief Justice of St Helena, Ascension Island and Tristan Da Cunha. He is a co-author and co-editor of Millington and Sutherland Williams on the Proceeds of Crime and was co-editor of the first edition of National Security: Law, Procedure and Practice published by Oxford University Press.

Stephen Shaw KC

Stephen Shaw KC was called to the bar of Northern Ireland in 1980 and became a QC in 2001. He has specialised in commercial, chancery and public law. He has wide experience of strategic advice as well as litigation, arbitration and mediation. He has acted for banks, public companies and private business, as well as the Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, local and central government. He also undertakes cases in the Lands Tribunal, rates appeals, rent reviews, arbitrations and planning appeals.

Last updated: 16 Sep 22