The Rt Hon Sir Henry Brooke

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Qualified: 
Arbitrator
Mediator
Specialist Areas: 
Commercial
Contract
Employment and workplace
Family
Landlord and Tenant
Libel, defamation and publishing
Personal injury and clinical negligence
Professional Negligence
General Information: 
Henry Brooke had over 40 years experience of litigation as barrister, QC and judge before becoming an accredited mediator. He opened his first law book at the age of 25. Before that, he did his National Service in the Royal Engineers, and then obtained an arts degree, specialising in classical literature and ancient history, before turning to a life in the law.

He retired at the end of September 2006 from his last job – as Vice-President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal - and has now conducted in excess of 120 mediations on his own in a very wide number of fields of practice, with sums in issue varying between £5,000 and £20 million.

He has been trained and accredited as a mediator by ADR Chambers, CEDR and the Regent's College School of Psychotherapy and Counselling. He is a registered CEDR mediator. He is Chairman of the Civil Mediation Council and of a newly formed company specialising in personal injury mediation. He also lectures on civil mediation and writes about the English experience of civil mediation in international journals.

His experience includes the following topics at every level of complexity:

  • Commercial disputes
  • Defamation cases
  • Employment law
  • Family property disputes
  • Landlord and tenant disputes
  • Personal injury disputes
  • Professional negligence, with particular expertise in clinical negligence
  • Public law disputes

 Legal Professional Appointments:
Called to the Bar 1963;
QC 1981;
High Court Judge (Queen’s Bench Division) 1988-96;
Chairman of the Law Commission Jan 1993-Dec 1995;
Lord Justice of Appeal 1996-2006;
Judge in charge of Modernisation 2000-2004;
Vice-President of the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) 2003-2006.
Now sits occasionally in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Personal:
Henry Brooke has been married for forty years. He has four married children and five grandchildren. He lives in Central London . His entire professional career has been dedicated to seeking solutions to disputes without having to incur expensive trial costs. He enjoys reading books, going to the theatre and the cinema and walking in the Alps in summer. Long ago he played village cricket with gusto.

His other activities have included roles as President of the Society for Computers & Law for nine years, Chairman of the Trustees of BAILII (the free access legal website) since 2000, General Editor of the White Book since 2003, and a hereditary trustee (now a fellow) of the Wordsworth Trust at Grasmere. He introduced the awareness of ethnic minority issues into English judicial training.