# Nick Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers

Nicholas Addison Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers (born 21 January 1938) is a British former senior judge.
Phillips was the inaugural President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, holding office between October 2009 and October 2012. He was the last Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and the first Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales to be head of the English judiciary when that function was transferred from the Lord Chancellor in April 2006. Before his chief justiceship, he was Master of the Rolls from 2000 to 2005. He sits as a crossbencher.

## Early life

Phillips was born 21 January 1938. He was educated at Bryanston School (where he was appointed a governor of the school in 1975, he has been chairman of its governors since 1981). He undertook National Service with the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, being commissioned as an officer.
After two years' military service he went to King's College, Cambridge, where he read law. In 1962, he was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple, where he was a Harmsworth Scholar. He undertook pupillage at 2 Essex Court Chambers (with the Anglo-American QC, Waldo Porges) and subsequently obtained a tenancy there, later moving to 1 Brick Court (now Brick Court Chambers). In 1973, he was appointed as Junior Counsel to the Ministry of Defence and to the Treasury in Maritime and Admiralty matters. On 4 April 1978, he became Queen's Counsel.

## Judicial career

In 1982, Phillips was appointed a Recorder and from 1987 was a full-time High Court Judge on the Queen's Bench Division, with the customary knighthood. He took an interest in legal training, and was Chairman of the Council of Legal Education from 1992 to 1997. He presided over several complex fraud trials including those covering the Robert Maxwell pension fund fraud and Barlow Clowes. In 1995, he became a Lord Justice of Appeal and was appointed to the Privy Council.
On 12 January 1999, he was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and created a Life Peer under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 as Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers, of Belsize Park in the London Borough of Camden.
He then succeeded Harry, Lord Woolf as Master of the Rolls on 6 June 2000. He conducted an inquiry into the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. He served as Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2005 to 2008, when he was reappointed as a Law Lord.
Since 2008, Phillips was the Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until he became the first president of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom on 1 October 2009.
Queen Elizabeth II elevated him as a Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter on 23 April 2011.
On 11 October 2011, Phillips announced his retirement on 30 September 2012, almost four months before the mandatory retirement age for British judges at turning 75 on 21 January 2013.
After retiring from the bench, Phillips followed Woolf as president of the Qatar International Court at Doha He served on the court from 2012 to 2018. He also acts as an arbitrator.
In March 2012, the Government of Hong Kong SAR appointed Phillips as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He also serves as President of the British Maritime Law Association and Chairman of the European Maritime Law Organisation.
On 30 September 2024, Lord Phillips announced that he will step down as a non-permanent judge of Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal after the end of his term on that day, due to personal reasons.

## Personal life

Phillips is married to Christylle Marie-Thérèse Rouffiac, and lives in Hampstead, London. One of his two children is novelist Marie Phillips.
Phillips is a member of Brooks's and the Garrick Clubs. He was also appointed the inaugural Distinguished Fellow and visiting professor of The Dickson Poon School of Law, King's College London.
He received honorary degrees of Doctor of Laws (Hon. LLD) from Exeter (1998), Birmingham (2003), London (2004), Wake Forest University (2010), and the International Institute of Maritime Law, and of Doctor of Civil Law (Hon. DCL) from City University, London (2003).
Phillips served as Chancellor of Bournemouth University from 2009 until 2018, being succeeded by broadcaster and author Kate Adie.

## Arms

Coat of arms of Nick Phillips, Baron Phillips of Worth Matravers :
* CoronetCoronet of a Baron
* CrestOn a Rock of Fossil Limestone Proper a Leopard sejant Argent spotted Azure grasping with the dexter forepaw a Curtana Argent hilt pommel and quillons Azure.
* EscutcheonAzure a Fess Ermine between three Ammonites Argent ribbed Sable.
* SupportersOn either side a Curlew Proper.
* OrdersGarter circlet
* Banner The banner of the Baron's arms used as Knight Companion of the Garter depicted at St George's Chapel.