Alison Russell

Dame Alison Hunter Russell, DBE (born 17 June 1958), styled The Hon. Ms Justice Russell, is a judge of the High Court of England and Wales.[1]

For the colonial service lawyer, see William Alison Russell.
The Honourable

Dame Alison Russell

DBE
High Court Judge
Assumed office
13 January 2014
MonarchElizabeth II
Personal details
Born (1958-06-17) 17 June 1958
NationalityUK
Alma materPolytechnic of the South Bank
OccupationJudge
ProfessionBarrister

Early life and education

Russell was born in 1958 in Harrogate to a Scottish family. She was educated at Wellington School, Ayr and the Polytechnic of the South Bank.[2][3]

Career

Russell was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1983. She was appointed a recorder in 2004.[4]

Russell became a QC in 2008. She practised at 1 Garden Court Chambers in London, specialising in family law and human rights.[5][6]

Russell was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Justice on 13 January 2014, assigned to the Family Division. She became the first judge to be formally addressed as "Ms Justice".[5][7][8]

Russell was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in February 2014. She is a member of the Family Justice Council.[5]

In April 2017, the Court of Appeal held that Russell had committed a series of "gross and obvious" irregularities in the way in which she had dealt with alleged contempt of court in a case about the alleged abduction of a child. Russell had imprisoned the father of the child for 18 months, holding that he had been in breach of an order which she had not in fact made, and did not have power to make. In doing so, she had made various serious procedural errors. The Court of Appeal awarded damages for wrongful imprisonment against the Lord Chancellor under the Human Rights Act 1998.[9]

In May 2017, Russell allowed an appeal from a relocation decision of Her Honour Judge Owens in the Family Court at Oxford. However, in December 2017, the Court of Appeal held that Russell's decision was 'both wrong and unjust because of serious procedural irregularity', because the 'main basis on which the appeal was allowed by Russell J arose from a legal argument that had not been raised in the grounds of appeal, had not been addressed by either party, and was in any event incorrect'.[10]

Personal life

Russell lives with her partner Julian Francis in South London.[7]

References
  1. "Senior judiciary". Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  2. ‘RUSSELL, Alison Hunter’, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014
  3. Whitaker's Shorts 2016: Law and Order. Bloomsbury Publishing. 2015. ISBN 9781472921994.
  4. "Alison Russell QC appointed to the High Court Bench". Family Law Week. 19 December 2013.
  5. Bowcott, Own (22 May 2014). "High court judge is first to be formally addressed as Ms Justice". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  6. Mueller, Matthias (23 May 2014). "First High Court judge to be formally addressed as Ms Justice". Family Law.
  7. Clark, Natasha (23 May 2014). "Page 3 Profile: Alison Russell QC, judge". Independent. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  8. Holland, James; Webb, Julian (2016). Learning Legal Rules: A Students' Guide to Legal Method and Reasoning. Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780198728436.
  9. LL v. The Lord Chancellor [2017] EWCA Civ 237, [2017] 4 WLR 162 (10 April 2017), Court of Appeal (England and Wales)
  10. L v. F [2017] EWCA Civ 2121 (20 December 2017), Court of Appeal (England and Wales)
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