Sumption tipped for Supreme Court role
Brick Court Chambers is keeping tight-lipped over mounting speculation that high-profile tenant Jonathan Sumption QC is hoping to join the Supreme Court.
The application process to appoint 12 Supreme Court justices is currently underway. It is understood that five QCs, including Sumption, have applied for places, along with two solicitors.
Sumption’s appointment would force him to leave the bar, depriving the Government of its favourite QC.
However, sources said it was an attractive proposition for the country’s leading barrister, who could climb straight to the top of the judicial career ladder.
“A lot of people think, if it wasn’t for Sumption, the SFO [Serious Fraud Office] would have lost the BAE [Systems] case,” a source said. “He’s an extraordinary barrister and his elevation to the Supreme Court would be excellent.”
In July 2008 Sumption convinced the House of Lords to overturn a decision saying that the SFO had acted unlawfully in stopping a probe into BAE’s arms deals with Saudi Arabia.
A Brick Court statement said: “There will be no comment from Jonathan Sumption ;QC ;on ;the matter.”
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