Havers was
called to the Bar at
Inner Temple in 1920, coming top of the bar examinations, and "took silk" to become a
King's Counsel in 1939. He served as
recorder of Chichester from 1939 to 1951. He also served as a judge in the
Gold Coast in 1944-45, and as a
Commissioner of Assize in the midlands in 1949. He became a
bencher at Inner Temple in 1946, and served as Treasurer in 1971. He was elected as an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi in 1975. Havers was appointed a
High Court judge in 1951, being assigned to the
Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division, and received the customary knighthood. He was transferred to the
King's Bench Division in 1952. Havers was the trial judge who presided over the conviction of
Ruth Ellis for
murder in 1955. Ellis was the last woman to be sentenced to death and
executed in the United Kingdom. In a 2010 television interview his grandson, the actor
Nigel Havers, revealed that his grandfather had written to the
Home Secretary recommending a reprieve as he regarded it as a
crime passionnel, but received a curt refusal. He subsequently sent money annually for the upkeep of Ellis's son. Havers retired as a full-time judge in 1967, and became Deputy
Dean of the Arches in 1970. ==Family==