A former Bradford Grammar School (BGS) student has been honoured with an appointment to the High Court.
Sir Nigel Poole, who left BGS in 1983, has been appointed a Justice of the High Court (Family Division) and started his new role in October.
Sir Nigel, 55, has had a distinguished career at the Bar for the past 31 years. He joined Kings Chambers, in Manchester, in 2004, where he specialised in personal injury and clinical negligence and enjoyed working on the Northern circuit. Latterly, he was known for his tireless work as Head of Chambers at Kings and was appointed as a Recorder in 2009 and as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2017. He is to be known as The Honourable Mr Justice Poole and was assigned to the Family Division of the High Court by the Lord Chief Justice.
Sir Nigel said of his appointment: “It is a great honour to have been appointed to the High Court bench. In the short time I have been sitting I have already had to preside over many interesting and challenging cases including serious medical treatment decisions in the Court of Protection. I have very fond memories of my time at BGS, from Clock House to the Sixth Form, of the teachers, and of the many activities I enjoyed there including drama, music, sports, and scouts. Whilst at school I had no ambitions to be a lawyer or a judge, but the grounding that BGS gave me has been invaluable in my career.”
Nigel is the second Old Bradfordian to be appointed to the High Court following Sir Stephen Morris, who sits on the Queen’s Bench. The pair are two of only 100 High Court judges in the country.
Lindsey Davis, Development Director at BGS, said: “Our heartfelt congratulations go to Sir Nigel on his well-deserved appointment. Sir Nigel’s success speaks powerfully to BGS values of working hard, striving for excellence, and making a positive contribution to wider society. The school community is very proud to count Sir Nigel as an Old Bradfordian and we wish him all the best.
“Having two Old Bradfordians as High Court Judges is such an achievement and we’re very proud of them at BGS.”
“Sir Nigel’s success speaks powerfully to BGS values of working hard, striving for excellence, and making a positive contribution to wider society. The school community is very proud to count Sir Nigel as an Old Bradfordian and we wish him all the best.”
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