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David Bean (judge)

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The Right Honourable
Lord Justice Bean
Lord Justice of Appeal
Incumbent
Assumed office
October 2014
Chairman of the Law Commission
In office
August 2015 – 2018
MonarchsElizabeth II
Charles III
Preceded bySir David Lloyd Jones
Succeeded byNicholas Green
Justice of the High Court
In office
19 July 2004 – 30 September 2014
Personal details
Born
David Michael Bean

(1954-02-25) 25 February 1954 (age 71)
NationalityBritish
EducationSt Paul's School, London
Alma materTrinity Hall, Cambridge

Sir David Michael Bean (born 25 March 1954) is a British judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.

Early life and education

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David Bean was born on 25 March 1954, the son of High Court judge Sir George Bean. He was educated at St Paul's School, an all-boys independent school in Barnes, London. He studied law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge between 1972 and 1975,[1] graduating from the University of Cambridge with a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.[2] He was President of the Cambridge Union in Lent term 1975.[1] He previously served as Treasurer of the Society of Labour Lawyers.[3]

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Barrister (1976–2004)

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On 29 July 1976, David Bean was called to the bar at Middle Temple.[4][5] He was a founding member of Matrix Chambers, specialising in employment, discrimination, education and public law.[6]

Bean was Chair of the Fabian Society from 1989 to 1990.[7]

In 1992, Bean was appointed an Assistant Recorder.[5] On 11 March 1996, he was appointed as a Recorder on the South Eastern Circuit.[8][9]

In 1997, he was appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC).[8]

Bean was appointed a bencher by Middle Temple on 6 March 2001.[4] Between 2001 and 2004 he was Chairman of the Immigration Services Tribunal.[2]

Chairman of the Bar

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In 2002, he was elected Chairman of the General Council of the Bar, the professional association for barristers in England and Wales.[8]

As chairman, he publicly opposed the then Lord Chief Justice, Harry Woolf, in defence of the Magna Carta’s guarantee of the right to trial by jury. This came in response to a proposal put forward by Lord Justice Auld in October 2001, with the advent of the second Blair government, which had pledged in its manifesto to abolish jury trials for offences carrying sentences of up to two years’ imprisonment. He argued that such a reform would come "at the expense of justice".[10]

Why is it a good idea to see the decision-making power away from ordinary people to decide whether somebody is guilty or innocent, and hand it over to full-time magistrates or experienced lay-magistrates, who will be much older than the defendant they are trying, and very case-hardened?

Bean issued a scathing rebuttal in print to Sir John Stevens, then Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, following Stevens’s article titled "Justice is a Joke: Britain's Top Cop Savages Our Soft, Pathetic Courts."[11]

Court of Queen's Bench (2004–2014)

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On 19 July 2004, Bean was appointed a judge of the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division) and received the customary knighthood.[5][12][13]

From 2007 to 2010, he served as the presiding judge of the South Eastern Circuit.[8]

In 2010, Mr Justice Bean presided over the trial of Jon Venables who had been accused of downloading and distributing indecent images of children. Venables was found guilty and Bean sentenced him to two years in prison. Bean also ruled that Venables' new identity, which had been granted after he murdered James Bulger as a teenager, was not to be published; Bulger's family criticised this decision.[13]

He also presided over the murder trial of Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Saud, a member of the Saudi royal family, and over the trial of Asil Nadir for false accounting.[13]

From October 2010 to March 2014, he was a Commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission, the body that selects candidates for judicial office.[5]

Lord Justice of Appeal (2014–present)

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On 1 October 2014, Bean was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal.[14] He was appointed to the Privy Council in 2014.[15]

In August 2015, he was appointed Chairman of the Law Commission, succeeding Lord Justice Lloyd Jones.[16] On 4 November 2015, he was made an Honorary Fellow of The Academy of Experts in recognition of his contribution to The Academy's Judicial Committee and work for Expert Witnesses.

He became Deputy Treasurer of the Middle Temple in 2018,[17][18] and in January 2019 he became Treasurer.[19]

In August 2025, Bean delivered the appellate court's ruling on the Epping migrant hotel case.[20]

Honours

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On 8 April 1997, David Bean was appointed a Queen's Counsel.[21] As a High Court judge, he received the customary knighthood as a Knight Bachelor and as a Lord Justice of Appeal he was appointed to the Privy Council.[citation needed]

Personal life

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His second wife was the civil servant Ruth Thompson.[2][22]

He is a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Reform Club.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "The Rt Hon Sir David Bean MA KB". Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "Bean, Rt Hon. Sir David (Michael)". Who's Who. Retrieved 29 August 2025. (subscription required)
  3. ^ "History – Society of Labour Lawyers". Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  4. ^ a b "The Rt Hon Lord Justice David Bean". Masters of the Bench. Middle Temple. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  5. ^ a b c d "Lord Justice Bean". Biographies of the Court of Appeal judges. Courts and Tribunals Judiciary. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  6. ^ "Former Members". Matrix Chambers. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  7. ^ "Our history | Fabian Society". Fabian Society. 26 January 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d "David Michael Bean BEAN". People of Today. Debrett's. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  9. ^ "No. 54346". The London Gazette. 15 March 1996. p. 3919.
  10. ^ "Top QC attacks jury plans". 2 January 2002.
  11. ^ "Sir David Bean replies to Sir John Stevens". The Guardian. 8 March 2002. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  12. ^ "No. 57363". The London Gazette. 23 July 2004. p. 9228.
  13. ^ a b c Spence, Alex (21 December 2010). "Profile: Mr Justice Bean". The Times. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  14. ^ "No. 61009". The London Gazette. 3 October 2014. p. 19318.
  15. ^ "Privy Counsellors | Privy Council". Archived from the original on 21 December 2011. Retrieved 27 March 2015.
  16. ^ "The Rt Hon Lord Justice Bean appointed Chairman of the Law Commission and Professor David Ormerod QC re-appointed". Law Commission. 27 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
  17. ^ News
  18. ^ Officers of the Inn
  19. ^ "Officers of the Inn," Middle Temple website. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  20. ^ Pearson, Allison (2 September 2025). "Nigel Farage speaks for the millions ashamed of what Britain has become". The Telegraph.
  21. ^ "No. 54736". The London Gazette. 15 April 1997. p. 4476.
  22. ^ "Dr Ruth Thompson - Honorary Graduate - University of Staffordshire". www.staffs.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 August 2025.
Party political offices
Preceded by Chair of the Fabian Society
1989–1990 		Succeeded by
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