Patrons of the Journal
Lady Justice Sophia Akuffo, LLB (Ghana) LLM (Harvard)
Lady Akuffo is a former Chief Justice of Ghana. She holds an LLB from the University of Ghana and an LLM from Harvard Law School. She practiced law in Accra for Akufo-Addo, Prempeh, & Co., before being appointed to the Supreme Court of Ghana in 1995. In 2006, she was appointed as one of the first eleven judges to serve on the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, of which she became the third president in 2012. She has been a member of the governing committee of the Commonwealth Judicial Education Institute and the chairperson of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Task-Force. She became Chief Justice of Ghana in 2017 and retired in 2019.
The Hon Edwin Cameron, BA LLB (Stel) MA BCL (Oxon)
The Hon Edwin Cameron is a retired Justice of the South African Constitutional Court, the Inspecting Judge of prisons, and the Chancellor of Stellenbosch University. He began his career as a barrister in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1983, practising human rights law. His work included the defence of ANC fighters accused of treason. He later drafted a Charter of Rights on AIDS and HIV, and founded the AIDS Consortium in South Africa. Having read law as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and winning the Vinerian Scholarship, he took silk in 1994. He was appointed Judge of the High Court of South Africa in 1995, served on the South African Constitutional Court 1999–2000, and was on 31 December 2008 appointed to the South African Constitutional Court, from which he retired in 2019.
The Hon Justice James Edelman BA, LLB (UWA) BComm (Murdoch) DPhil (Oxon)
Justices James Edelman was appointed to the High Court of Australia in January 2017. His Honour was previously a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia (2015-2017) and the Supreme Court of Western Australia (2011-2015). Justice Edelman obtained a Bachelor of Economics (1995) and a Bachelor of Laws (first class honours) (1996) from the University of Western Australia, and a Bachelor of Commerce from Murdoch University (1997). He was also an Associate to the Honourable Justice John Toohey of the High Court of Australia in 1997. Justice Edelman was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 1998, and obtained a Doctor of Philosophy in Law from the University of Oxford in 2001. His Honour took up a teaching position at Keble College in 2005, and was appointed Professor of the Law of Obligations at Oxford in 2008. At Oxford he taught restitution, commercial remedies, trusts, torts, contract and Roman law.
The Right Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE PC FBA
Baroness Hale was the President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom from 2017 to 2020. She read law at Girton College, Cambridge from 1963 to 1966 and graduated at the top of her class with a starred first. Shortly thereafter, she took up a lectureship at Manchester University, where she taught for 18 years. She was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1969 and for a few years combined her practice as a barrister with her academic career. In 1984, she became the youngest person, and the first woman, to be appointed to the Law Commission. She was appointed a Professor at Manchester University while on leave of absence at the Law Commission. She began sitting as an Assistant Recorder in 1984, and became a Recorder and Queen's Counsel in 1989. In 1994, she became a judge of the High Court (Family Division). Within the short span of five years, she was appointed to the Court of Appeal. Subsequently she became, in 2004, the first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in the UK; and, in 2009, the first woman Justice of the Supreme Court. In 2017, she became the first female President of that Court. Baroness Hale was appointed a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in 2018, shortly before her retirement from the bench in the UK in 2020. She continues to hold a number of academic posts, including Visitor of Girton College, Cambridge, Honorary Professor of Law at University College, London, and Sultan Azlan Shah Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
The Hon Kenneth Madison Hayne AC QC, BA/LLB (Hons) (U of Melb) BCL (Oxon)
A Rhodes Scholar for Victoria, Australia, the Hon Kenneth Hayne AC QC pursued a career as a barrister until his appointment as a QC in Victoria in 1984. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 1992, and then became a foundation Judge of the Court of Appeal of Victoria in 1995. He received his appointment to the High Court of Australia in 1997 from which he retired in 2015. At the bar he specialised in commercial, constitutional, and general civil matters. In 2002, Justice Hayne was appointed a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia. The Hon Kenneth Hayne AC QC is also an Honarary Fellow of Exter College, Oxford, and an Honarary Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne. From December 2017 to February 2019, he was also the Commissioner conducting the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
The Rt Hon Sir Kenneth Keith (New Zealand)
Sir Kenneth Keith is one of New Zealand’s most distinguished jurists. He was one of the inaugural appointees to the New Zealand Supreme Court. Sir Kenneth served on the New Zealand Public and Administrative Law Reform Committee from 1972-1986, and sat on the Royal Commission on the Electoral System in 1985-86. He was a member of the New Zealand Law Commission from 1986-1996, the latter five years of which he served as its president. He has also had significant international service in a variety of contexts including within the then Department of External Affairs (1960-62) and the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (1968-70). Among an extraordinary array of activities, highlights include leading the New Zealand delegation to the conference in Geneva that framed the first two protocols to the Geneva Conventions; appearing as counsel for New Zealand before the International Court of Justice in the various iterations of the Nuclear Tests Cases in 1973, 1974, and 1995; and his service as a past president and member of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission under the first additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims. He was also elected as a judge to the International Court of Justice, where he served from 2006-2015.
Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi, LLB (Nairobi) LLM (LSE)
Lady Justice Mumbi Ngugi is the Presiding Judge of the Anti-corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court of Kenya. She holds a Law degree from the University of Nairobi and a Masters’ degree in Law from London School of Economics and Political Science. She was admitted as an advocate of the High Court of Kenya in 1988, and began her career in private practice as a legal assistant both in Nairobi and Mombasa. Thereafter, she joined the Office of the Attorney General as a State Counsel in the Department of the Official Receiver. Justice Ngugi later served as Company Secretary with a leading insurance firm and thereafter engaged in private practice before being appointed a judge in the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the Kenyan High Court in 2011. She was named Jurist of the Year 2013 by the International Commission of Jurists, Kenya and was awarded the 6th CB Madan Award in 2018. On a more personal level, Justice Ngugi, who has albinism, has been involved in advocacy for the protection of people with albinism in East Africa.
The Hon Sujata Vasant Manohar, BA (Bom) MA (Oxon)
Justice Manohar is a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India. Prior to joining the Supreme Court of India, Justice Manohar was the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court and thereafter of the Kerala High Court, being the first woman to hold these positions. She chaired the committee that established the Maharashtra Family Courts, was the first Chairperson of the Board of Visitors of the Judicial Officers’ Training Institute at Nagpur, and was the Vice President of the Maharashtra State Legal Aid and Advisory Board. After her retirement from the Supreme Court, Justice Manohar also served as a member of the National Human Rights Commission. She is an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn, an Honorary Fellow of Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. She has received an Hon DLitt from SNDT University (India) and Honorary Doctorates in Law from Wayne State University (US) and the University of East Anglia (UK). In 2021, Justice Manohar was awarded the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Medal of Honour by the World Jurist Association and the World Law Association.
The Hon Mr Justice Roberto Ribeiro, PJ LLB LLM (LSE)
Mr Justice Ribeiro is a Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. He read for his LLB (1971) and LLM (1972) in law at the London School of Economics, before joining the faculty of law at the University of Hong Kong as a lecturer in 1972.. He was called to the English Bar in 1978 at the Inner Temple, and returned to practice in Hong Kong in 1979.. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1990 (a status converted to Senior Counsel in 1997). He was appointed a Recorder of the Hong Kong Court of First Instance in 1997, and soon rose quickly through the judicial ranks: he was appointed a Judge of the Court of First Instance in 1999; a Justice of Appeal in 2000; and, later that same year, a Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal. He has sat as a member of the Hong Kong Law Reform Commission, the Bar Council and the Operations Review Committee of the Independent Commission Against Corruption over a number of years. He is also an Honorary Bencher of the Inner Temple, and holds Honrary Fellowships at the London School of Economics as well as St Hugh’s College, Oxford. He has been made an Officier of the Légion d'Honneur, Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Palmes Académiques, and Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
The Hon Robert J Sharpe JA, BA (UWO) LLB (Hons) (Toronto) DPhil (Oxon)
The Hon Robert Sharpe is a Distinguished Jurist in Residence at the University of Toronto, and Visiting Professor at Oxford University. He sat on the Court of Appeal for Ontario, Canada, from 1999 until 2020. Before his appointment, he sat on the Ontario Court of Justice (General Division), now the Superior Court of Justice. Before embarking on his judicial career, he taught at the University of Toronto and was Dean of the Faculty of Law (1990–1995). Mr Justice Sharpe spent two years as Executive Legal Officer, Supreme Court Canada, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has authored numerous scholarly articles and several books, including The Law of Habeas Corpus (2nd ed, 1989); The Last Day, the Last Hour: The Currie Libel Trial (1988); Injunctions and Specific Performance (5th ed, 2017); The Charter of Rights and Freedoms 6th ed (with Kent Roach) (2017); Brian Dickson: A Judge’s Journey (with Kent Roach, 2003); The Persons Case: The Origins and Legacy of the Fight for Legal Personhood (with Patricia McMahon, 2007); The Lazier Murder: Prince Edward County, 1884 (2012); and Good Judgment: Making Judicial Decisions (2018). He was a member of the Advisory Panel to assist the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission regarding the judiciary (2002) and a member of the International Bar Association Rapid Response Missions to investigate threats to judicial independence in Russia (2005) and Pakistan (2007). He is also the President of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History, and was President of the Canadian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies from 2014 until 2020.
The Hon Chief Justice Anthony Smellie QC, LLD (HC) Liverpool, LLB (Hons) UWI
Chief Justice Smellie has been a Judge of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands since February 1993. He was appointed Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands in June 1998, and to the Court of Appeal of Bermuda in March 2018. In August 1991 he was appointed as one of Her Majesty's Counsel. Earlier positions held by Chief Justice Smellie include Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions for Jamaica, Solicitor General, and Acting Attorney-General for the Cayman Islands. Chief Justice Smellie is a graduate of the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies (Barbados) and of the Norman Manley Law School (Jamaica), where he obtained his postgraduate professional qualifications. He is also an alumnus of the International Development Law Institute, Rome, and the London Business School. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies, London; an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn, the Inns of Court, London; a judicial member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners; and a member of the International Insolvency Institute and of INSOL International, the world-wide federation of national associations of insolvency and reconstruction professionals. His present responsibilities include being the central authority for the Cayman Islands Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the US.
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Past Patrons
- The Right Hon The Lord Goff of Chieveley (Robert Lionel Archibald Goff), PC DCL FBA