Sir Frederick Paul Girvan PC (born 20 October 1948) is a retired Northern Irish judge. He was educated at Larne Grammar School, Belfast Royal Academy,

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...

( BA) and

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

. He was knighted on his appointment as a Justice of the High Court of Northern Ireland, 1995. Sworn of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council on 25 January 2007 on his appointment as a

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) Justice ...

of the Court of Judicature of Northern Ireland. In July 2006 he delivered a judgment in Downes (Re), Application for Judicial Review,

006 Alec Trevelyan (006) is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1995 James Bond film ''GoldenEye'', the first film to feature actor Pierce Brosnan as Bond. Trevelyan is portrayed by actor Sean Bean. The likeness of Bean as Alec T ...

NIQB 77; http://www.bailii.org/nie/cases/NIHC/QB/2006/77.html criticising the appointment of Mrs

Bertha McDougall Bertha McDougall, OBE was the interim Commissioner for Victims and Survivors of the Troubles. She was appointed in October 2005 by Peter Hain to look at key areas relating to services for victims, funding arrangements in relation to services and ...

as Interim Victims Commissioner. The judgment was criticised by the former Secretary for State for Northern Ireland,

Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of Stat ...

, in his memoir ''Outside In''. In March 2012 the Attorney-General of Northern Ireland began proceedings against Hain and the publishers alleging contempt of court
alleging contempt of court
although these were subsequently dropped. He retired in 2015.

Background

* Called to the Bar: NI, 1971 *Junior Crown Counsel, NI, 1979-1982 *

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

(NI), 1982 *Chancellor,

Diocese of Armagh (Church of Ireland) The Diocese of Armagh is the metropolitan diocese of the ecclesiastical province of Armagh, the Church of Ireland province that covers the northern half (approximately) of the island of Ireland. The diocese mainly covers counties Louth, T ...

, 1999–present *Chairman: Council of Law Reporting for NI, 1994-2001 *Law Reform Advisory Committee for NI, 1997 -2004 (Member since 1994) *Hon. Bencher,

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 Wa ...

, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Girvan, Paul Living people 1948 births People educated at the Belfast Royal Academy Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Knights Bachelor Members of Gray's Inn Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Anglicans from Northern Ireland People from Larne Lords Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland People educated at Larne Grammar School High Court judges of Northern Ireland