Sir Michael John Fordham, (born 21 December 1964), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Fordham, is a judge of the High Court of England and Wales assigned to the King's Bench Division. He was appointed as a Justice of the High Court on 13 January 2020.

Education

Fordham was educated at

Spalding Grammar School Spalding Grammar School (SGS), fully known as The Queen Elizabeth Royal Free Grammar School Spalding, is an 11–18 boys' grammar school in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England. By November 2015, a total of 985 boys were enrolled at the school, 277 ...

between 1976 and 1983. He went on to study law at

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main ga ...

having been awarded a place through the Tanner Scheme. After achieving a First class degree, he stayed on at Oxford until 1987 to undertake a

Bachelor of Civil Law Bachelor of Civil Law (abbreviated BCL or B.C.L.; ) is the name of various degrees in law conferred by English-language universities. The BCL originated as a postgraduate degree in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; at Oxford, the BCL contin ...

(BCL). In 1988 he obtained a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(LLM) at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Career

Fordham was called to the bar in 1990 by

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 by 2006 had been appointed a Queen's Counsel. Four years later he became a Civil Recorder, and in 2012, a Criminal Recorder. He was appointed Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal, sitting for six years until 2018. He was authorised under s9(1) to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2013. During his career as a barrister spanning 1990 to 2020, he specialised (''inter alia'') in public law, administrative law, immigration and asylum, health and human rights, arguing more than 50 cases in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

and the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

. Fordham is a Bencher of Gray's Inn where he formerly served as Master of Students.

Cases argued

The following are among the cases argued by Fordham during his career as a barrister: *

R (Miller) v The Prime Minister ''R (Miller) v The Prime Minister'' and ''Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland'' ( 019UKSC 41), also known as ''Miller II'' and ''Miller/Cherry'', were joint landmark constitutional law cases on the limits of the power of royal prerogat ...

and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland *Lauzika, R (On the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

018 018 may refer to: *Air Canada Flight 018, an airline flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, illegally boarded by a Chinese man wearing a disguise in 2010 *Area code 018, a telephone area code in Uppsala, Sweden *BMW 018, an experimental turboj ...

EWHC 1045 (Admin) *Secretary of State for the Home Department v ZAT and Ors

016 The Home Guard Special Division 016 (; abbreviated as HV-016) is a former military unit of Norway, that was a part of the Home Guard. It was established after 1985 to "stop terror- or sabotage actions that could weaken or paralyze Norway's abili ...

EWCA Civ 810 *Pinochet, In re

999 999 or triple nine most often refers to: * 999 (emergency telephone number), a telephone number for the emergency services in several countries * 999 (number), an integer * AD 999, a year * 999 BC, a year Media Books * 999 (anthology), ''99 ...

UKHL 1;

000 Triple zero, Zero Zero Zero, 0-0-0 or variants may refer to: * 000 (emergency telephone number), the Australian emergency telephone number * 000, the size of several small List of screw drives, screw drives * 0-0-0, a Droid (Star Wars)#0-0-0, dro ...

1 AC 119;

1 All ER 577;

2 WLR 272 *Keyu & Others v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs & Anr

014 014 may refer to: * Argus As 014 The Argus As 014 (designated 109-014 by the Ministry of Aviation (Germany), RLM) was a pulsejet engine used on the German V-1 flying bomb of World War II, and the first model of pulsejet engine placed in mass pr ...

EWCA Civ 312 *

R (March) v Secretary of State for Health ''R (March) v Secretary of State for Health'' was a 2010 judicial review which challenged the UK Department of Health's decision not to implement Recommendation 6(h) of the Archer Independent Inquiry. The case was important in developing the ...

010 010 may refer to: * 10 (number) * 8 (number) in octal numeral notation * Motorola 68010, a microprocessor released by Motorola in 1982 * 010, the telephone area code of Beijing * 010, the Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest ...

EWHC 765 (Admin) *R v Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, ex p Al-Fayed

998 Year 998 ( CMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – Otto III retakes Rome and restores power in the papal city. Crescentius II (the Younger) and his followers ...

Author

As a legal practitioner specialising in

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...

, Fordham has authored seven editions of his ''Judicial Review Handbook''. In the foreword to the 5th Edition,

Lord Woolf Harry Kenneth Woolf, Baron Woolf (born 2 May 1933) is a British life peer and retired barrister and judge. He was Master of the Rolls from 1996 until 2000 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2000 until 2005. The Constitutional Ref ...

paid tribute to the author, saying that the handbook was "an institution for those who practise public law". (Lord Woolf, from the Foreword to the Fifth Edition).

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fordham, Michael 1964 births Knights Bachelor Living people Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford People educated at Spalding Grammar School Queen's Bench Division judges English legal writers