Residence London and Essex Preceded by Position created Name Robert Baron | Full Name Robert Walker Spouse Suzanne Diana (m. 1962) Nationality British | |
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Preceded by The Lord Slynn of Hadley Born 17 March 1938 (age 86) ( 1938-03-17 ) Role Lords of Appeal in Ordinary Similar People Jonathan Mance - Baron Ma, Brenda Hale - Baroness, Alan Rodger - Baron Ro, Richard Scott - Baron Sc, Lawrence Collins - Baron Co | ||
Robert Walker, Baron Walker of Gestingthorpe, PC, (born 17 March 1938) is an English barrister and former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He also serves as a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
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He sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
Early life and non-judicial career
Born on 17 March 1938, the son of Ronald Robert Antony Walker by his wife Mary Helen, Walker was educated at Downside School before going up to Trinity College, Cambridge from where he graduated in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics and Law. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1960 and became a Queen's Counsel in 1982.
In 2010 he was the Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn.
Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe has served on the Honorary Editorial Board of the Warwick Student Law Review since its inception in 2010.
Judicial career
In 1994, Walker was appointed a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division, and as is customary was then made a Knight Bachelor, before serving as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1997. He succeeded Lord Slynn of Hadley GBE as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2002 and was created a Life Peer as Baron Walker of Gestingthorpe (Gestingthorpe is in the County of Essex). It had been mooted by some at the time that a woman might have been appointed to this position, two such names in the offing being: Baroness Hale, who was appointed to the subsequent vacancy, and Lady Justice Arden, who remains a Lord Justice of Appeal and whose husband is now a Law Lord (Lord Mance). He and nine other Lords of Appeal in Ordinary became Justices of the Supreme Court upon that body's inauguration on 1 October 2009.
Personal life
Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe married Suzanne Diana Leggi in 1962; they have three daughters and one son.