Fountain Court Chambers is sad to announce the death of Sir Henry Brooke, the former Vice-President of the Civil Division of the Court of Appeal and an Honorary Fellow of Balliol, on 29 January.  Henry arrived at Fountain Court in 1963, undertaking pupillage with Peter Webster, and had a distinguished career at the Bar (including acting as Counsel to the Sizewell B public inquiry chaired by Sir Frank Layfield).  He took Silk in 1981 and was appointed to the High Court Bench in 1988.  He served as an eminent Chair of the Law Commission from 1993 to 1995 (piloting the forerunner of the special Parliamentary procedure now used for Law Commission Bills) and was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1996.  His judicial career was marked by a strong emphasis on promoting access to justice and the establishment and development of the CPR.  He was well known as a pioneer of IT on the Bench and he enthusiastically embraced all aspects of modern technology, including regularly blogging and tweeting on various legal subjects in retirement.

The valedictory addresses upon his retirement from the Court of Appeal, including contributions from Sir Mark Potter, Lord Goldsmith QC and David Railton QC can be accessed here and the obituary from The Times here.