Judge was
called to the bar (
Middle Temple) in 1963, became a
Recorder in 1976 and
Queen's Counsel in 1979. assigned to the
Queen's Bench Division, and awarded the customary
knighthood. He was appointed a
Lord Justice of Appeal, a judge of the
Court of Appeal, on 4 June 1996, becoming a
privy counsellor. when that post was split from that of Lord Chief Justice. In addition to that role, Judge was appointed Head of Criminal Justice in January 2007. Judge replaced Lord Phillips as Lord Chief Justice on 1 October 2008. The same day, he was created a
life peer as
Baron Judge, of Draycote in the County of Warwickshire, and he was
introduced to the
House of Lords five days later, where he sat as a
crossbencher. In 2007 Lord Judge was awarded an honorary doctorate from
Nottingham Trent University, and in 2010 was made an Honorary Fellow of
Aberystwyth University as well as
Kingston University. On 20 June 2012 he received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge. Judge retired as Lord Chief Justice at the end of September 2013. He was Treasurer of the
Middle Temple for the year 2014. From November 2013 until his death in November 2023, Judge served as a distinguished visitor to
The Dickson Poon School of Law at
King's College London. Contrary to popular belief, he was never referred to as "Judge Judge" throughout his career. This was despite several media reports listing him by that title, especially when discussing
nominative determinism. ==Parliament==