“All-rounder” silk to become Lord Chief Justice of Tonga

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Bishop: Believer in general practice

An “all-rounder” KC with 56 years of experience as a barrister will become the Lord Chief Justice of Tonga next month and president of its Land Court.

Malcolm Bishop KC said that since the LCJ was responsible for both criminal and civil law, being “a believer in general practice” was an advantage.

Mr Bishop said he did not apply for the job and was approached earlier this year. Although the role was “rather big”, it was “the right thing to do” and, after 31 years as a silk, he decided “it might be time for a change”.

Mr Bishop, who was called in 1968, said the LCJ is head of the Tongan Supreme Court, which unlike its UK counterpart sits beneath the Court of Appeal, on which the LCJ also has a place.

The LCJ is also in charge of the legally qualified magistrates with civil and criminal jurisdiction, deals with continuing professional development and represents the kingdom at global legal conferences. As president of the Land Court, the LCJ adjudicates land ownership issues.

Mr Bishop was a founder member, in 1972, of 30 Park Place chambers in Cardiff, the largest set in Wales.

His practice has included administrative law, commercial law, family law, the Court of Protection, mental health, community care, crime, education, local government and planning.

He has been both a deputy High Court judge in the Family Division and a recorder in the Crown Court. He described himself as an “all-rounder” who had “embraced all areas of law” and believed barristers “specialised far too early”.

Mr Bishop is also a member of the Bar of the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he was defence counsel in a “vast conspiracy and bribery trial” – the longest in the history of the Commonwealth at over 10 years. Mr Bishop said his junior had taken over from him for a further hearing in December.

Tonga, another member of the Commonwealth, has never been a colony. However, its law was “heavily influenced” by rulings in New Zealand and Australia, and the higher UK courts.

His appointment as LCJ is for a fixed term of four years, and although he would not reveal the salary, it was “reasonable”.

He added that he was “well outside” the statutory retirement age of 75 for judges in England and Wales (he is 80 this year), but Tonga “was not ageist”.

Asked whether he was concerned that the house of his predecessor as LCJ, Australian KC Michael Whitten, was destroyed by a cyclone the year after he arrived on the islands, Mr Bishop said that although there were “lots of typhoons”, buildings were now built to withstand hurricanes.

After going to Ruabon grammar school near Wrexham in Wales, he studied theology at Oxford University.

More recently, he started translating the New Testament into modern English, much of which was done during Covid, and had recently published The Gospels – a lawyer’s translation from the original Greek. He said his translation of the whole of the New Testament would be published by the end of the year.

Mr Bishop said “the tools of the advocate are words” and a “lifelong training in their use” had helped him prepare a “readable and accurate” translation.

Barrister and TV personality Rob Rinder has previously named Mr Bishop as his LGBTQ hero, saying in 2021 that “he was an out gay barrister when I arrived in chambers over 20 years ago” and describing him as “somebody that I looked up to, who was quite literally modelling a life that I aspired to”.

His appointment as Lord Chief Justice was approved by His Majesty King Tupou VI and is effective from 1 September 2024.