The Rt Hon Lord Woolf of Barnes

Former Special Adviser to CEDR

The Rt Hon Lord Woolf of Barnes - Former Special Adviser to CEDR
Lord Woolf has had a very long-standing interest in alternative dispute resolution and mediation. His report, Access to Justice, 1996 ("The Woolf Report") was generally acknowledged to have been a catalyst for the development of ADR in England. Lord Woolf has lectured on the subject of ADR both in the United Kingdom and in many countries abroad. He also chaired the network of the Presidents of the Supreme Judicial Courts of the European Union's Working Group on mediation.

Lord Woolf is a chartered arbitrator and he mediates through CEDR Solve direct.

He was called to the Bar in 1955 and from 1973-74 was junior counsel, Inland Revenue. During this time he represented the Revenue in the majority of their leading cases before the High Court, Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. In 1974 Lord Woolf was appointed first Treasury Counsel (Common Law) a post which he held for five years. During this time he appeared in a great many of the most important cases of the period on behalf of the Government. In addition he acted as an amicus curiae where the courts required assistance for difficult points of law or policy.

Lord Woolf was appointed to the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in 1979, as Lord Justice of Appeal in 1986 and a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1992. Between 1996 and 2000 he held the position of Master of the Rolls and in 2000 was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales a position from which he retired in September 2005.

In 2003, Lord Woolf was appointed a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong, acting as the overseas judge in that Court, an appointment that he continues to hold.

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