Swearing in at 9.30am on Tuesday 10 June in Court 4
5RB is proud to announce that Mark Warby QC has been appointed to the High Court Bench. He will be assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division. He will be sworn in at 9.30am on Tuesday 10 June 2014 in Court 4 before the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, and the President of the Queen’s Bench Division. He replaces Sir Michael Tugendhat, who retires on 2 June 2014.
Mr Justice Warby was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1981. He joined chambers the following year. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2002, a Recorder in 2009 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 2013. He became Joint Head of Chambers in 2011.
Sir Mark practised at 5RB for 32 years before his appointment. He was a specialist junior in media, entertainment and sports law for 20 years, then appointed QC in 2002. Before the Human Rights Act, the main specialist area was libel. But he appeared in many of the key cases in the development of privacy law, including Campbell v MGN, Prince of Wales v Associated Newspapers, Murray v Big Pictures and Mosley v News Group. He was lead author of the chapters on breach of confidence and defences in the first edition of The Law of Privacy and the Media (OUP, 2002). He jointly edited the second edition (2011) and third edition (2016), with Dr Nicole Moreham, as well as continuing to write substantial parts of the work. He contributed to Blackstone’s Guide to the Defamation Act 2013, and to the third edition of Lewis & Taylor’s Sport: Law and Practice (2014). This last contribution reflected his specialism in disciplinary cases concerning corruption in sport, especially horse-racing, in which he became expert after 19 years as the chief prosecuting Counsel for the horse-racing authority. Sir Mark was joint head of Chambers at 5RB from 2011-2014.
Desmond Browne QC, 5RB’s joint Head of Chambers said: “Naturally 5RB is tremendously proud that Mark Warby should have been chosen to step into the shoes of our former members, Mr Justice Gray and Mr Justice Tugendhat. The latter will be very much missed on his retirement. So it will not just be his colleagues in chambers but all media practitioners who will be delighted at the news that it is someone with Mark’s vast experience who will be wrestling with the mass of issues raised by the new Defamation Act.”
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