David Neuberger, Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury

Neuberger was born on 10 January 1948, the son of Albert Neuberger,[3] Professor of Chemical Pathology at St Mary's Hospital, University of London, and his wife, Lilian. His uncle was the noted rabbi Herman N. Neuberger. All three of his brothers are or were professors: James Neuberger is Professor of Medicine at the University of Birmingham, Michael Neuberger was Professor of Molecular Immunology at the University of Cambridge, while Anthony Neuberger is Professor in Finance at Warwick Business School, University of Warwick.[4]

He was educated first at The Hall School, Hampstead, then Westminster School, and studied chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford.[3][5]

After graduation, Neuberger worked at the merchant bank, N M Rothschild & Sons, from 1970–73.[3][6] Neuberger was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1974,[3][7] where he became a Bencher in 1993. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1987. He was a Recorder from 1990 to 1 October 1996, when he was appointed a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division and received the customary knighthood.[8]

In 2001, he was made Supervisory Chancery Judge of Midland, Wales and Chester, and of the Western Circuits, a post he held until 12 January 2004, when he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and a member of the Privy Council.[9][10]

Since 2005, he has been co-chair (with Richard Susskind) of ITAC (Lord Chancellor's Information Technology and Courts Committee).

On 11 January 2007, he succeeded Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary[7] and was made a life peer as Baron Neuberger of Abbotsbury, of Abbotsbury in the County of Dorset, and introduced in the House of Lords on 15 January 2007 between Lord Bingham of Cornhill and his sister-in-law, Baroness Neuberger.[11]

His rise to the Court of Appeal[12] and then to the House of Lords is one of the quickest in recent times. Although Lord Devlin was, at 55, even younger on his own appointment to the House of Lords in 1960, Neuberger was the youngest sitting Law Lord.[13]

It was announced on 23 July 2009 that he would be appointed the next Master of the Rolls, succeeding Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, who became one of the inaugural Justices of the Supreme Court on the retirement of Lord Scott of Foscote. This appointment took effect on 1 October 2009.[14]

Between 2006 and 2007, he led an investigation for the Bar Council into widening access to the Bar. He also served on the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, led by former Health Secretary Alan Milburn, which reported in July 2009. Other Panel members included Trevor Phillips, head of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, Michael Grade, Chairman of ITV, and Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal.[15]

In May 2010, Neuberger gave an ex tempore dissenting judgment that the trade union Unite had not complied with ballot rules under trade union legislation.[16]

In July 2010 Neuberger ruled that peace protesters in Parliament Square who had camped out in Democracy Village should be evicted after the protesters lost an appeal.[17]

In May 2011, while commenting on super injunctions, he said that social media sites like Twitter were "totally out of control" and society should consider ways to bring such websites under control.[18]

In July 2012, it was announced that Neuberger would succeed Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers as President of the Supreme Court,[19] which post he took up on 1 October 2012.[20]

In February 2017, it was announced that Neuberger was stepping down "in the Summer" from his role in the Supreme Court and retiring.[21][22]

He now sits as a voting cross-bench member of the House of Lords[23][24] and is the Chair[2] of the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, an independent body convened at the request of the UK and Canadian governments.[25]

Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury speaking at a conference in Singapore in 2016

In 1976, Neuberger married Angela Holdsworth, the TV producer and writer. They have three children, Jessica, Nicholas and Max, who are all solicitors.[5] Neuberger's sister-in-law, through his brother Anthony Neuberger, is Julia Neuberger, Baroness Neuberger, Senior Rabbi of the West London Synagogue.

Neuberger was Chairman of the Schizophrenia Trust from 2003 to 2013, when it merged with and was subsumed by Mental Health Research UK: he is now a Trustee of MHRUK. He was a Governor of the University of the Arts London between 2000 and 2010. He was President of the British Records Association from 2009 to 2012, in his capacity as Master of the Rolls.

On 18 May 2020 he was appointed as Deputy President of The Academy of Experts due to replace Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate as President in late 2020.

• Bill Jones; Philip Norton (2014). Politics UK. Routledge. p. 442. ISBN 9781317581031.