By STEVE DOUGHTY
The first Sikh judge of the High Court was sworn in at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday.
Rabinder Singh QC, a colleague of Cherie Blair at the human rights barristers’ chambers Matrix, is only the second lawyer from an ethnic minority background to be promoted to the senior level of the judiciary.
Mr Singh, 47, is the son of Indian immigrants. He won a local council scholarship to the independent Bristol Grammar School and went on to Cambridge.
He has made a name as one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers since becoming a barrister 22 years ago.
In an interview with the Law Society Gazette before taking office, he said: ‘I am a barrister who happens to be a Sikh. I have always tried to be a role model, by the work I do. I haven’t said, “I’m a Sikh barrister, look at what I do”. I’ve just said, “Look at what I do”. Everyone can see what I am.’
He is best known through his work suggesting that the 2003 invasion of Iraq broke international law and for his part in the landmark 2004 House of Lords case that outlawed indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects.
The first High Court judge from an ethnic minority background was Dame Linda Dobbs, known to the courts as Mrs Justice Dobbs.
Dame Linda, whose mother is from Sierra Leone, has been a High Court judge since 2004.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Rabinder-Singh-QC-sworn-in.html#ixzz1aWmLTNJ2
The first Sikh judge of the High Court was sworn in at the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday.
Rabinder Singh QC, a colleague of Cherie Blair at the human rights barristers’ chambers Matrix, is only the second lawyer from an ethnic minority background to be promoted to the senior level of the judiciary.
Mr Singh, 47, is the son of Indian immigrants. He won a local council scholarship to the independent Bristol Grammar School and went on to Cambridge.
He has made a name as one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers since becoming a barrister 22 years ago.
In an interview with the Law Society Gazette before taking office, he said: ‘I am a barrister who happens to be a Sikh. I have always tried to be a role model, by the work I do. I haven’t said, “I’m a Sikh barrister, look at what I do”. I’ve just said, “Look at what I do”. Everyone can see what I am.’
He is best known through his work suggesting that the 2003 invasion of Iraq broke international law and for his part in the landmark 2004 House of Lords case that outlawed indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects.
The first High Court judge from an ethnic minority background was Dame Linda Dobbs, known to the courts as Mrs Justice Dobbs.
Dame Linda, whose mother is from Sierra Leone, has been a High Court judge since 2004.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...Rabinder-Singh-QC-sworn-in.html#ixzz1aWmLTNJ2