London: A British Sikh has become the first Indian-origin judge to be promoted to one the senior-most posts in the UK judicial system.
Sir Rabinder Singh is one of seven new judges to occupy the seven-member UK Court of Appeal after new judicial appointments were unveiled by the UK government this week.
The 53-year-old High Court judge known for his characteristic white turbans in court was born in Delhi before his family moved to the UK. He won a scholarship to a prestigious school in the city of Bristol and went on to study law at Trinity College, Cambridge University.
He then studied at the University of California at Berkeley, graduating with a Masters in Law in 1986. As he could not afford to study for the UK Bar exam, he became a lecturer in law at the University of Nottingham from 1986 to 1988 before winning a scholarship from the Inns of Court in London.
He was called to the Bar in 1989 and became a Queen's Council (QC) in 2002. Justice Singh will now sit on the Court of Appeal bench, the highest court within the senior courts of England and Wales which deals only with appeals from other courts or tribunals.
The other new appeal court judges along with Singh are Justice Asplin, Justice Coulson, Justice Holroyde, Justice Peter Jackson, Justice Leggatt and Justice Newey.
Their promotion comes alongside the appointment of the first female judge to the post of president of the SupremeCourt, 72-year-old Brenda Marjorie Hale.
The Supreme Court is the court of last resort and presides over cases that come to it after all court and appeal decisions in the UK.
