The Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of Tribunal Judge Peter Richard Lane to be a Justice of the High Court with effect from 2 October 2017 consequential to the retirement of Sir Michael Burton.

The Lord Chief Justice will assign Tribunal Judge Peter Richard Lane to the Queen’s Bench Division.

Notes to editors

Tribunal Judge Peter Richard Lane, aged 64, will be known as The Honourable Mr Justice Lane. He was admitted as a Solicitor in 1985. He was appointed as a fee-paid Immigration Adjudicator in 1996, as a salaried Immigration Adjudicator in 2001, as a Vice President of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal in 2003 (becoming a Senior Immigration Judge in 2005 and a Judge of the Upper Tribunal in 2008), as a legal member of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission in 2005 and as President of the General Regulatory Chamber in 2014. He is authorised to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge.

Might this be a step on the road to becoming the next President of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber of the Upper Tribunal? Statute requires that the post holder is at least a high court judge and President McCloskey’s term is ending soon. Whether or not that comes to pass, this is a well deserved appointment of a thoughtful and serious judge and the first time I think an immigration judge has ever been appointed a full Justice of the High Court.

Source: Courts and Tribunals Judiciary | High Court Judge Appointment (Queen’s Bench Division): Lane