Sir Brian Frederick James Langstaff (born 30 April 1948) is a British judge. Called to the Bar at the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, he served as a High Court judge from 2005 to 2018 as Mr Justice Langstaff, and was the president of the

Employment Appeal Tribunal The Employment Appeal Tribunal is a tribunal in England and Wales and Scotland, and is a superior court of record. Its primary role is to hear appeals from Employment Tribunals in England, Scotland and Wales. It also hears appeals from decisions ...

from 2012 to 2015. From 2018 to 2024, Langstaff chaired the

Infected Blood Inquiry From the 1970s to the early 1990s, tens of thousands of people were infected with hepatitis C and HIV as a result of receiving infected blood or infected clotting factor products in the United Kingdom. Many of the products were imported from th ...

, which investigated the causes and effects of the

contaminated blood scandal in the United Kingdom From the 1970s to the early 1990s, tens of thousands of people were infected with hepatitis C and HIV as a result of receiving infected blood or infected clotting factor products in the United Kingdom. Many of the products were imported from th ...

from the 1970s to the 1990s. In his seven-volume final report, Langstaff found that the scandal could "largely, though not entirely, have been avoided", and that successive governments and the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

covered up the risk to patients who received infected blood products.

Early life and education

Langstaff was born on 30 April 1948 to Frederick and Muriel Langstaff (). He was educated at

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a private primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Lauriston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff. It was ...

, Edinburgh, and then at

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The colle ...

. Before his legal career, he worked in Sri Lanka with VSO in 1966 and 1967.

Legal career

In 1971, Langstaff was called to the

Bar of England and Wales Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

at the

, where he received the Harmsworth Scholarship in 1975. He became a bencher of the Middle Temple in 2001. Langstaff 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 1994, and became a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

for the

South Eastern Circuit The Circuit Court () of Ireland is an intermediate level court of local and limited jurisdiction which hears both civil and criminal matters. On the criminal side the Circuit Court hears criminal matters tried on indictment with a judge and jury ...

in 1995. Langstaff was appointed a justice of the High Court on 3 October 2005 and assigned to the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

. He became the president of the

from 1 January 2012, succeeding Mr Justice Underhill, and was succeeded by Mrs Justice Simler on 1 January 2016. Langstaff was appointed on 8 February 2018 to chair the

, which investigated the

during the 1970s to the 1990s. He retired from the High Court on 30 April 2018 to work full-time on the inquiry. In an interim report published in July 2022, Langstaff concluded that the 4,000 victims were provisionally entitled to £100,000 each and the payments ought to be made quickly.

Notable cases

*'' Thompson v Arnold'' (2007) Legal case concerning damages already awarded where death ensued *'' Van Wees v Karkour'' (2007) Road traffic accident personal injury case with significance for the assessment of damages

Personal life

Langstaff married Deborah Weatherup in 1975. They have a son and a daughter.

References

1948 births Living people People educated at George Heriot's School Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple Queen's Bench Division judges Knights Bachelor British King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel 20th-century British judges 21st-century British judges Place of birth missing (living people) {{UK-law-bio-stub