David Bean (judge)

The Right Honourable Lord Justice Bean
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
14th Chairman of the Law Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office August 2015
Preceded by	Sir David Lloyd Jones
Lord Justice of Appeal
Incumbent
Assumed office October 2014
Personal details
Born	David Michael Bean 25 February 1954
Nationality	British
Education	St Paul's School, London
Alma mater	Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Sir David Michael Bean (born 25 March 1954) is a British judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

Early life and education

Bean was born on 25 March 1954. He was educated at St Paul's School, an all-boys independent school in Barnes, London. He studied law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, graduating from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.^[1]

Legal career

On 29 July 1976, Bean was called to the bar at Middle Temple,^[2] therefore qualifying as a barrister.^[3] In 1997, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC).^[4] He was appointed a bencher by Middle Temple on 6 March 2001.^[2] In 2002, he was Chairman of the General Council of the Bar, the professional association for barristers in England and Wales.^[4]

Judiciary

In 1992, Bean was appointed an Assistant Recorder and therefore became a junior part-time judge in additional to his main work as a barrister.^[3] On 11 March 1996, he was promoted to Recorder, the part-time equivalent of a circuit judge, and was appointed sit on the South Eastern Circuit.^[4][5]

On 19 July 2004, Bean was appointed a judge of the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division).^[6][3] This meant that he became a full-time judge after serving part-time for the previous 12 years.^[7] From 2007 to 2010, he served as the presiding judge of the South Eastern Circuit.^[4] From October 2010 to March 2014, he was a Commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission, the body that selects candidates for judicial office.^[3]

In 2010, Bean presided over the trial of Jon Venables who had been accused of downloading and distributing indecent images of children. Venables was found guilty and Bean sentenced him to two years in prison. He also ruled that Venables' new identity, which had been granted after he murdered James Bulger as a teenager, was to remain a secret; Bulger's family criticised Bean because of this.^[7] That year, he also presided over the murder conviction of Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, and over the conviction of businessman Asil Nadir for false accounting.^[7]

On 1 October 2014, Bean was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal.^[8] He was appointed to the Privy Council in 2014.^[9] In August 2015, he was appointed Chairman of the Law Commission, succeeding Sir David Lloyd Jones.^[10]

Honours

On 8 April 1997, Bean was appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC).^[11] As a High Court judge, he received the customary knighthood as a Knight Bachelor.

References

1. ‘BEAN, Hon. Sir David (Michael)’, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014
2. "The Rt Hon Lord Justice David Bean". Masters of the Bench. Middle Temple. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
3. "Lord Justice Bean". Biographies of the Court of Appeal judges. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
4. "David Michael Bean BEAN". People of Today. Debrett's. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
5. The London Gazette: no. 54346. p. 3919. 15 March 1996. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
6. The London Gazette: no. 57363. p. 9228. 23 July 2004. Retrieved 07 March 2016.
7. Spence, Alex (21 December 2010). "Profile: Mr Justice Bean". The Times. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
8. The London Gazette: no. 61009. p. 19318. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
9. http://privycouncil.independent.gov.uk/privy-council/privy-council-members/privy-counsellors/
10. "The Rt Hon Lord Justice Bean appointed Chairman of the Law Commission and Professor David Ormerod QC re-appointed". Law Commission. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
11. The London Gazette: no. 54736. p. 4476. 15 April 1997. Retrieved 7 March 2016.