The Hon. Mr. Justice Haddon-Cave, QBD, High Court of England & Wales

Sir Charles Haddon-Cave was educated at The King’s School, Canterbury, and read law at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1978. He practiced at the Commercial Bar in London and Hong Kong from 1980 to 2011. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1999. He is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn.

At the Bar, he was recognised as one of the leading commercial silks in the fields of aviation, shipping, insurance, travel law and arbitration. He appeared regularly in the House of Lords, Court of Appeal, Commercial Court and in the Courts of Hong Kong. He was instructed in major aviation and marine disasters in England such as the Manchester Air Disaster, Herald of Free Enterprise, the Braer Disaster, the Kegworth Aircrash, the Knight Air Crash, the BP Trent and the Marchioness Disaster. He appeared in many of the aviation route-licensing hearings before the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the HK Air Transport Licensing Authority.

He was appointed by the Secretary of State for Defence to conduct the Nimrod Review (2007-2009) into the loss of the RAF Nimrod MR2 aircraft XV230 in Afghanistan in 2006.

He has lectured widely on safety matters including to the UK Flight Safety Committee, the Royal Aeronautical Society, the MOD, Boscome Down, RUSI, the Academy of Engineers, the International Atomic Energy Agency and Nuclear Directorate, the International Society for Military Law & the Law of War and West Point Military Academy.

He has been Chairman of the RAeS Air Law Group and the Advocacy Training Council of the Bar of England & Wales (and appointed a Fellow in 2011).

He was appointed a Justice of the High Court of England & Wales in October 2011 and assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division.