Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks

Wellington College, Berkshire

Faulks is the son of His Honour Peter Ronald Faulks MC and Pamela Faulks (née Lawless). The novelist Sebastian Faulks is his younger brother. His uncle was Sir Neville Faulks, a High Court judge.

He was educated at Wellington College and Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated with an MA and now serves as an Honorary Fellow.[1] He was called to the Bar, Middle Temple, in 1973.

Faulks became a Queen's Counsel in 1996 and a Recorder in 2000. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He became a bencher in 2002. He was a Literary Agent, for Curtis Brown, from 1980–81. He was an Assistant Recorder, 1996–2000. He was Chairman of the Professional Negligence Bar Association 2002–04 and Special Advisor to the Department for Constitutional Affairs on compensation culture, 2005–06. In 2010 he was created a life peer as Baron Faulks, of Donnington in the Royal County of Berkshire.[2]

In December 2013 it was announced that with effect from 20 January 2014 Faulks would become a Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice.[3] He served in this role until July 2016 when he resigned from the government voicing concerns about the appointment of a non-lawyer, Liz Truss, as Secretary of State for Justice by new prime minister Theresa May.[4]

Baron Faulks was appointed a Justice at the Astana International Financial Centre Court in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018.[5]

Since January 2020, he has been Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation,[6] the independent regulator of the majority of newspapers and magazines in the UK.

On 10 June 2015, Faulks questioned in the House of Lords "But the question that arises out of social welfare law is whether it is always necessary for everybody who has quite real problems to have a lawyer at £200-odd an hour, or whether there are better and more effective ways of giving advice.".[7] The fact-checking web-site FullFact.org investigated and concluded that the claim was untrue - only in exceptionally rare circumstances do legal aid lawyers command such charges, with £50-£70 per hour being a routine fee.[8]

Faulks is a contributing editor to Local Authority Liabilities, 1998, 4th edition 2009. He is on the board of the social enterprise Liberty Kitchen, set up to reduce recidivism at Pentonville Prison.[9]

Lord Faulks married Catherine Frances Turner, daughter of Lindsay Turner and Anthea Cadbury, in 1990. They have two sons. Catherine Faulks is a Conservative councillor on Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council.[10][11]

• Lord Faulks – UK Parliament
• Lord Faulks – TheyWorkForYou
• Lord Edward Faulks QC – GOV.UK