Sir William Anthony Campbell PC (born 30 October 1936) is a judge, former

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Just ...

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from 1998 to 2008.

Background

Campbell, the son of Harold Campbell

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, attended

Campbell College Campbell College located in Belfast, Northern Ireland and founded in 1894 comprises a preparatory school department (junior age) and a senior Northern Ireland 'Voluntary Grammar' school, the latter meaning, in terms of provision of education, a ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, and

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

Law career

In 1960, Campbell was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

by both

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

and the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland. He was made a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

of the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland in 1983 and a Bencher at Gray's Inn in 1995. Sir Anthony was appointed

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1974. He was promoted to the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

of Northern Ireland 1988 and served until 1998 when he was further elevated to become a

. Sir Anthony Campbell retired during the summer of 2008.

Post retirement

In October 2008, Sir Anthony Campbell was appointed to chair the Fingerprint Inquiry, a public inquiry set up by

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

ministers to investigate the steps taken to verify the fingerprints associated with the case of HM Advocate v McKie in 1999, and related matters. He served an additional four years as a judge of the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal, retiring from that court in 2014.

References

1936 births Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Living people Knights Bachelor Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Campbell College Ulster Scots people Lords Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland High Court judges of Northern Ireland Place of birth missing (living people) Northern Ireland King's Counsel {{UK-law-bio-stub