This post is just a quick note to congratulate Jack Beatson (pictured left) on his elevation to the Court of Appeal in London. Before he became a judge, Jack was Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at Cambridge and a Fellow of St John’s College, and in that capacity he supervised my PhD thesis. (Adopting a line I saw elsewhere, we both survived).

I’m delighted to learn today that, in the formal wording of such announcements, the Queen has been pleased to approve the appointment of The Honourable Mr Justice Beatson as a Lord Justice of Appeal to fill a forthcoming vacancy in the Court of Appeal. In Debrett’s, he lists his recreations as “trying to relax”. I fear he might not have much time for that in his new role.

Congratulations, Jack!