Dyson
took silk in 1982 and was appointed a
Recorder in 1986. He became a
bencher of Middle Temple Inn in 1990. He was the head of
39 Essex Chambers from 1986 to 1993. He was appointed to the Bench of the
High Court on 30 March 1993, sitting in the
Queen's Bench Division, and received a
knighthood. In 1994, he was appointed chairman of the Equal Treatment Advisory Committee of the
Judicial College. In 1998, he became presiding judge of the
Technology and Construction Court, a specialist part of the Queen's Bench Division. On 11 January 2001, Dyson was appointed a
Lord Justice of Appeal, a judge of the
Court of Appeal of England and Wales, in succession to
Lord Justice Nourse, and was appointed to the
Privy Council. In 2003, he was promoted to Deputy
Head of Civil Justice. Dyson was appointed a
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom with effect from 12 April 2010, and was sworn in on 19 April. His appointment brought the Supreme Court up to full strength by filling a vacancy that had existed since the court began work in October 2009. It was announced in December 2010 that, by
Royal Warrant, all members of the Supreme Court, even if they did not hold a
peerage, were entitled to the
judicial courtesy title of "Lord" for life. Dyson was the first Supreme Court Justice to whom this applied, and he gained the courtesy title
Lord Dyson. According to
Standpoint, he was said to have come a "close second" to
Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury to succeed
Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony as
Master of the Rolls in 2009. In the event, Dyson was appointed Master of the Rolls with effect from 1 October 2012 as was widely expected following the announcement of Neuberger's appointment (also with effect from 1 October) as
President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in July 2012. From 2012 to 2016, he was Chairman of the Magna Carta Trust and of the Advisory Council to the
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on National Records and Archives. He was chairman of the British Friends of the
Hebrew University's legal group. Dyson retired and was replaced by Sir
Terence Etherton as Master of the Rolls on 3 October 2016. He was Treasurer of
Middle Temple for 2017. In September 2019 Lord Dyson published his autobiography, ''A Judge's Journey
. In a study published in 2024, he is recorded as openly critical of Lord Hope of Craighead in publishing Diaries'' revealing Lord Hope's account of judicial panel deliberations and confidential conversations between judges. Since 2016 he has practiced as an arbitrator and mediator at
39 Essex Chambers. == Affiliations ==