Sir Paul Joseph Morrow Kennedy, PC (born 1935) is an English

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

. He is a former vice-president of 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 ...

of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, and former

Interception of Communications Commissioner The Interception of Communications Commissioner was a regulatory official in the United Kingdom, appointed under section 57 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, and previously under section 8 of the Interception of Communications ...

Life

Kennedy was born in northern England in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, on 12 June 1935. He studied at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire and at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

, and received his final law training at

Sheffield University The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Firth College in 1879 ...

. In 1960 Kennedy was admitted to legal practice as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

via

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 in 1973 he took silk (became

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 ...

). From 1971 to 1983 Kennedy served as the recorder on the North Eastern Circuit. In 1983 he was appointed as a justice of the High Court, assigned to the Queen's Bench Division, where he served until 1992. He was the presiding judge of the North Eastern Circuit from 1985 to 1989. From 1992 to 2005 Kennedy was an

appellate judge An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellate ...

on the

Court of Appeal of England and Wales The Court of Appeal (formally "His Majesty's Court of Appeal in England", commonly cited as "CA", "EWCA" or "CoA") is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales, and second in the legal system of England and Wales only to ...

, known 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) Just ...

. From 1997 to 2002 he also served as the vice-president of the Queen's Bench Division. In 2006, Kennedy was appointed as

(ICC) by

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

for the standard three-year term. In April 2009, he was reappointed for a second term by

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

. Kennedy served until December 2012, and was succeeded by Sir Anthony May in January 2013. In 2014, Kennedy served an additional six months as Interception of Communications Commissioner due to the convalescence of Anthony May from an accident. Also in 2006 Kennedy was appointed to the Court of Appeal in Gibraltar, where he became president in December 2011. In 2009 he was appointed by the Estimates Committee of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

to hear appeals from members of parliament (MPs) whose claims for reimbursement and allowances had been denied by the Commons fees office.

Controversies

In 1995, Kennedy was an advisor to a charity that promoted a controversial,

brainwashing Brainwashing is the controversial idea that the human mind can be altered or controlled against a person's will by manipulative psychological techniques. Brainwashing is said to reduce its subject's ability to think critically or independently ...

style rehabilitation program for young offenders reminiscent of that used in Burgess's '' A Clockwork Orange'', for which he was later taken to task by the press. In 2010, Kennedy on appeal reversed more than 50% of the cases for repayments from MPs that Sir Thomas Legg had demanded. He found that in most cases there was no evidence of wrongdoing, and that it was unfair to call MPs who had not broken the existing rules things such as "tainted" or having "breached the requirements of propriety". In 2011, while serving as Interception of Communications Commissioner, Kennedy and the Intelligence Services Commissioner, Sir Mark Waller, were ridiculed for allowing their new web site dealing with state security to have open editing access.

Memberships and awards

* Knighted in 1984. * Member of the Judicial Studies Board and chairman of its Criminal Committee from 1993 to 1996. * Chairman of the Advocacy Studies Board from 1996 to 1999. * Member of Queen's Counsel Appointment Panels for England and Wales from 2008 to 2009. * Member of the Queen's Counsel Appointments Committee for Gibraltar since 2011. * Honorary fellow at

in 1998. * Honorary LLD from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

in 2000.

Notes

External links

* Photo: {{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Paul 1935 births Lord justices of appeal Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Sheffield Members of Gray's Inn English King's Counsel 20th-century King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel 21st-century Gibraltarian judges Living people Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Ampleforth College