Brian Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore


Brian Francis Kerr, Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, , is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.

Early life

Brian Kerr was born on 22 February 1948 to James William Kerr and Kathleen Rose Kerr, of Lurgan, County Armagh.
He was educated at St Colman's College, Newry, and read law at Queen's University Belfast. He was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1970, and to the Bar of England and Wales at Gray's Inn in 1974. He took silk in 1983 and became a member of the King's Inns in 1990, and an Honorary Bencher of Gray's Inn in 1997 and the King's Inns in 2004. He served as Junior Crown Counsel from 1978 to 1983 and Senior Crown Counsel from 1988 to 1993.

Judicial career

In 1993, Brian Kerr was appointed a Judge of the High Court and knighted, and in 2004 was appointed Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, only the second Roman Catholic to hold the position, and sworn of the Privy Council.
As is tradition for the Lord Chief Justice, he succeeded Lord Carswell as the Northern Irish Lord of Appeal in Ordinary upon the latter's retirement.
On 29 June 2009, he was created Baron Kerr of Tonaghmore, of Tonaghmore in the County of Down, and was introduced to the House of Lords the same day. He was the last person to be appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, and on 1 October 2009 he became one of the inaugural Justices of the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He was also the youngest member, at age 61. He was succeeded as Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland on 3 July 2009 by Sir Declan Morgan.
Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore dissented from the controversial judgment of the Supreme Court in R v Gnango, in which the court held that a person could be an accessory to their own murder.
In 2014, Ulster University awarded Lord Kerr an honorary doctorate in law.

Selected cases

He is married to Gillian, Lady Kerr of Tonaghmore, and has two sons. He is a Roman Catholic..