Nicholas Underhill


Sir Nicholas Edward Underhill is a British judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford

Legal career

Underhill was called to the bar at Gray's Inn 1976. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1992. He was appointed a Recorder in 1994 and was authorised as a deputy High Court judge in 1998. From 2000 to 2003, he was a temporary additional judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He served as Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales from 1998 to 2006. On 30 January 2006, Underhill was appointed a High Court judge, receiving the customary knighthood, and assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. He was a judge of the Employment Appeal Tribunal from 2006 to 2013, and its president from 2009 to 2011. On 9 April 2013, he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and consequently appointed to the Privy Council.
Underhill was chair of the Bar Pro Bono Unit. He has served as a trustee of St John's, Smith Square since 1996 and as chair since 2010. He is also a trustee of the London Library, having served since 2008, and has been vice chair since 2011.
He received an Honorary Fellowship from New College, Oxford in 2015.