Patrick Hodge, Lord Hodge


Patrick Stewart Hodge, Lord Hodge, PC is a Scottish lawyer, currently serving as Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Early life

Hodge was educated at Croftinloan School, an independent junior boarding school in Perthshire, and Trinity College, Glenalmond, also in Perthshire. He studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and the School of Law of the University of Edinburgh, and worked as a civil servant at the Scottish Office between 1975 and 1978, before being admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1983.

Legal career

Hodge was appointed Standing Junior Counsel to the Department of Energy from 1989 to 1991, and to the Inland Revenue from 1991 to 1996, in which year he took silk. As a QC, his practice was mainly in commercial law, judicial review and property law. He served as a part-time Commissioner on the Scottish Law Commission from 1997–2003, and from 2000 to 2005 was a Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey, and Procurator to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.
He was appointed a Senator of the College of Justice in 2005, taking the judicial title, Lord Hodge. Like all Scottish judges on the Supreme Court, he has sat in both the Court of Session and High Court of Justiciary, but had particular responsibility as the Exchequer judge in the Court of Session. On 1 October 2013, Hodge succeeded Lord Hope as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. On 27 January 2020, Hodge was appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court, succeeding Lord Reed who became President.

Personal life

Hodge married Penelope Jane Wigin in 1983, with whom he has two sons and a daughter. His interests include opera and skiing, and he is a member of Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society. He has been a Governor of Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh, since 1998.