His Majesty The King has been pleased to approve the appointment of Sir James Dingemans as the Senior President of Tribunals.
Background
Biography of candidate
Lord Justice Dingemans was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1987 and took Silk in 2002. He was appointed as a Recorder in 2002, authorised to hear cases under section 9(1) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 in the King’s Bench division in 2010 and a High Court Judge in 2013. He was a Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit between 2015 and 2018 and was elevated to the Court of Appeal in 2019. He served as Vice President of the King’s Bench Division between 2020 and 2025, and as lead judge for international relations for the judiciary between 2021 and 2025.
The appointment
The appointment of the Senior President of Tribunals is made by His Majesty The King on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor following the recommendation of an independent selection panel chaired by Baroness Carr, the Lady Chief Justice. The other panel members were Lady Wise (President of the Scottish Tribunals), Helen Pitcher OBE (Chair of the JAC), Ms Sue Hoyle OBE (Lay JAC Commissioner) and Ms Clare McGlynn (Lay JAC Commissioner).
The Senior President of Tribunals (“SPT”) is a free-standing judicial office created by Parliament through the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007. The SPT is the independent head of the reserved tribunals’ judiciary in the United Kingdom.
The SPT establishes and communicates the judicial strategic direction within the tribunals’ jurisdiction and is the judicial leader of more than 5000 judicial office holders. The SPT is supported by 14 Tribunal Presidents, and works with them to ensure the tribunals system is accessible, efficient and fair. The SPT has a number of statutory responsibilities, which includes representing the views of tribunal judges and members to Parliament, the Lord Chancellor and Ministers and having responsibility for training, welfare and guidance within tribunals. The Senior President will regularly liaise with the geographic Chief Justices, the heads of devolved tribunals in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Heads of Division and the Senior Presiding Judge in England and Wales, and the Judicial Offices in each jurisdiction, as well as Ministers and senior officials in each Government, to discuss strategy and operational issues affecting the tribunals justice system.
