Lord Chief Justice for England and Wales to arrives in Malawi tomorrow

* His visit will explore areas of mutual collaboration with key interlocutors in the judicial sector

* As Commonwealth sister nations, we believe the UK and Malawi can learn a lot from each other

* On the dispensation of justice and fostering the rule of law in a democracy

By Duncan Mlanjira

The Lord Chief Justice, The Right Honourable The Lord Burnett of Maldon — Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales and the President of the Courts of England and Wales — is expected to arrive tomorrow in Malawi for a three day visit till Friday, June 3.

A statement from the British High Commission says The Lord Burnett’s  visit is to further UK-Malawi judicial links and in Blantyre, he is expected to meet key contacts in the country’s judiciary and representatives of legal and human rights bodies.

Lord Burnett will visit the Supreme Court, and hold meetings with the Judge President of the Supreme Court and other Supreme Court judges, among others.

He is also expected to deliver a public lecture at University of Malawi’s School of Law, Economics and Governance — Malawi’s oldest law school.

Acting High Commissioner, Olympia Wereko-Brobby is quoted in the statement as saying: “We are thrilled  to  be able to welcome the Lord Chief Justice to Malawi. His visit will explore areas of mutual collaboration with key interlocutors in the judicial sector.

“As Commonwealth sister nations, we believe the UK and Malawi can learn a lot from each other on the dispensation of justice and fostering the rule of law in a democracy.”

Lord Bunnet was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales on October 1, 2017 and his other roles include representing the views of the judiciary of England and Wales to Parliament and Government; and overseeing the welfare, training and guidance of the judiciary of England and Wales.

He also deploys judges and allocates their work in courts in England and Wales.

Wikipedia records that Ian Duncan Burnett, born 28 February 1958, was was educated at St John’s College, Portsmouth and studied studied jurisprudence at Pembroke College, Oxford where he became an honorary fellow in 2008.

Legal career

He was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1980, and was elected a bencher there in 2001. From 1982, he practised at Temple Garden Chambers. He was head of those chambers from 2003.

He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1998, practising mainly in public and administrative law, acting on the inquiries into the 1987 Kings Cross fire, the convictions of the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven, the 1997 Southall and 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crashes and the inquests into the 1997 deaths Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed.

Lord Burnett was an assistant recorder from 1998 to 2000, and then a recorder until 2008. He was authorised to sit as a Judge of the High Court from 2008 (Supreme Court Act 1981, s 9(1)) — assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division.

He was knighted on 7 November 2008 and was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2014, becoming a Lord Justice of Appeal.

Aged 59, he became the youngest Lord Chief Justice since Lord Parker of Waddington in 1958. He was duly created Baron Burnett of Maldon, of Maldonado in the County Essex on 30 October 2017.

In November 2022, Lord Burnett — who married Caroline Ruth Monks in 1991, and they have one son and one daughter — announced his intention to retire from his role as Lord Chief Justice from 30 September 2023.