The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the most senior judge in the jurisdiction, serving at once as Head of the Judiciary and President of the Courts of England and Wales. The role is currently held by Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, who took office on 1 October 2023 as the first woman to lead the English and Welsh judiciary.1Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Dame Sue Carr Has Been Appointed the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales The modern shape of the office was set by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which stripped judicial functions from the Lord Chancellor and transferred them to a genuinely independent head of the court system.2Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Constitutional Reform
Head of the Judiciary
Section 7 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 gives the Lord Chief Justice two titles in one: President of the Courts of England and Wales and Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales. Under that single provision, the officeholder represents the views of judges and magistrates to Parliament, the Lord Chancellor, and government ministers, and is responsible for arrangements covering the welfare, training, and guidance of the judiciary, together with how judges are deployed across courts and how work is allocated within them.3Legislation.gov.uk. Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Section 7
The representative function matters more than it might sound. When the government proposes changes to court funding, legal aid, or court fees, the Lord Chief Justice is the person who speaks for the judiciary’s perspective. Individual judges do not lobby ministers or make public statements on policy. One authoritative voice reaches government; the broader bench stays out of political engagement.
Because the jurisdiction covers both England and Wales, the role carries specific Welsh responsibilities, supported by a Judges’ Council Committee for Wales, a dedicated Welsh Training Committee within the Judicial College, and a standing committee working on the use of the Welsh language in court.4Judiciary.uk. The Lord Chief Justice’s Speech on Legal Wales
President of the Courts
As President of the Courts, the Lord Chief Justice sits at the apex of the court hierarchy. Section 7 lists every court over which the officeholder presides: the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Crown Court, the family court, the county court, and the magistrates’ courts, and the Lord Chief Justice is entitled to sit in any of them.3Legislation.gov.uk. Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Section 7
In practice, the courtroom work centres on the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, where the Lord Chief Justice serves as president. The Civil Division is presided over by the Master of the Rolls.5Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Court of Appeal Judges The Criminal Division hears appeals from the Crown Court, and the Lord Chief Justice tends to take cases that raise significant points of law or attract wide public attention. Those judgments regularly set binding precedents on sentencing, evidence, and procedure.
Criminal Practice Directions
Beyond individual cases, the Lord Chief Justice has the power to issue, amend, or withdraw Criminal Practice Directions. These sit alongside the Criminal Procedure Rules and together form a binding code of practice for all criminal courts, covering case management, trial conduct, and the forms courts must use. Courts and participants in criminal proceedings are required to comply with both.6Judiciary.uk. Criminal Practice Directions 2023 (as amended November 2025)
Protecting Judicial Independence
The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 enshrined judicial independence in statute for the first time in almost 900 years of English law.2Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Constitutional Reform Section 3 imposes a duty on the Lord Chancellor and all government ministers to uphold the continued independence of the judiciary, and ministers are expressly barred from seeking to influence particular judicial decisions through any special access to judges.7Legislation.gov.uk. Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Section 3
The Lord Chief Justice makes that guarantee work in practice. When public criticism targets a judicial decision, it is the Lord Chief Justice who responds, not the judge who made the ruling. That structural barrier protects the appearance of impartiality alongside the reality.
On conduct, the Lord Chief Justice shares responsibility with the Lord Chancellor. The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office supports both officeholders in investigating complaints about the personal conduct of judges and magistrates.8Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. About Us The split is deliberate: how a judge behaves off the bench falls to this joint mechanism, while legal decisions made in court can only be challenged through the appeals process.
How a Lord Chief Justice Is Chosen
The appointment process is governed by Part 4 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and is designed to be merit-based. When a vacancy arises, the Lord Chancellor must ask the Judicial Appointments Commission to convene a selection panel.9Legislation.gov.uk. Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Part 4
The panel must have an odd number of members, no fewer than five, and must include at least two non-legally-qualified members, at least two judicial members, and at least two members of the Commission. It is chaired by one of its non-legally-qualified members, so the process is not seen as judges selecting their own leader. The sitting Lord Chief Justice cannot serve on the panel.9Legislation.gov.uk. Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Part 4
Eligibility is broader than many assume. The exercise is open to anyone who satisfies the judicial-appointment eligibility condition on a seven-year basis, as well as to sitting judges of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, or High Court.10GOV.UK. Appointment of the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales In practice, recent appointments have come from the Court of Appeal, but the statute does not limit the field that narrowly.
The Lord Chancellor’s Limited Role
Once the panel selects a candidate, the Lord Chancellor has three options: accept the recommendation, reject it, or ask the panel to reconsider. That power to reject or request reconsideration can only be used once. If the panel reconsiders and keeps its original choice, the Lord Chancellor must accept. If the Lord Chancellor rejects the candidate outright, the panel must select someone else, but again the Lord Chancellor gets only one opportunity to block.11Legislation.gov.uk. Constitutional Reform Act 2005, Sections 73-75 The elected government has a voice without having a veto.
When the recommendation is accepted, the name goes to the Prime Minister, who advises the Monarch. The formal appointment is made by Letters Patent under the Senior Courts Act 1981.12Legislation.gov.uk. Senior Courts Act 1981, Section 10
Tenure, Retirement, and Salary
The Lord Chief Justice holds office during good behaviour, not at the pleasure of the government. Removal can only happen if the Monarch acts on an address presented by both Houses of Parliament.13UK Parliament. Constitutional Reform Bill Explanatory Notes No Lord Chief Justice has ever been removed through it. The threshold is deliberately high so that unpopular rulings cannot cost a judge their career.
The mandatory retirement age for all judicial office holders, including the Lord Chief Justice, was raised from 70 to 75 under the Public Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Act 2022.14GOV.UK. Judicial Retirement Age to Rise to 75
The annual salary for 2025–2026 is £325,010, set by the government’s judicial salary schedule and effective from 1 April 2025.15GOV.UK. Judicial Salaries by Salary Group (effective 1 April 2025) Judicial pay has been a recurring point of tension, with successive Lord Chief Justices arguing that pay levels make it difficult to attract senior barristers to the bench.
Administrative Reach
The Judicial College, which delivers training to all court judges in England and Wales, operates on behalf of the Lord Chief Justice.16Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Training and Support Training covers new legislation, sentencing practice, and the handling of vulnerable witnesses, among other areas.
The Lord Chief Justice also plays a direct role in the Sentencing Council for England and Wales. Judicial members of the Council are appointed by the Lord Chief Justice, while non-judicial members are appointed by the Lord Chancellor with the Lord Chief Justice’s agreement.17Sentencing Council. New Judicial and Non-Judicial Appointments Announced to Sentencing Council The Council produces sentencing guidelines that courts across England and Wales must follow unless it would be contrary to the interests of justice in a particular case.
Deployment authority rounds out the operational picture. The Lord Chief Justice can assign judges to specific courts, circuits, or types of case, redirecting judicial resources when caseload shifts without waiting for legislative action.
Where the Role Stops: The UK Supreme Court
Although the Lord Chief Justice is the most senior judge in England and Wales, the UK Supreme Court sits above the Court of Appeal in the appellate hierarchy, and the Lord Chief Justice is not a member of that court by right. The President of the Supreme Court may invite the Lord Chief Justice to sit as a judge of that court under Section 38 of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005.18Amicus Curiae. Judicial Titles and Dress in the Supreme Court and Below Before the Supreme Court was created in 2009, the House of Lords served as the highest appellate tribunal, and the Lord Chief Justice could participate in its judicial work only if they happened to hold a peerage.
The two roles complement each other. The Supreme Court hears a relatively small number of cases each year on points of law of general public importance. The Lord Chief Justice, through the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, handles the much larger volume of criminal appeals and shapes day-to-day criminal law.