Pembroke Welcomes Rt Hon Sir Ernest Ryder

This week the College welcomes Sir Ernest Ryder, who takes over the Mastership from Dame Lynne Brindley.  Despite the unprecedented circumstances of his arrival, the Pembroke community is keen to welcome Sir Ernest and his wife Janette.

Professor Owen Darbishire, Vicegerent and Fellow, comments: “Sir Ernest has spent the past months in his position as the Senior President of Tribunals for the United Kingdom navigating the complexities of operating a public service in lockdown, so he comes to us well prepared for the challenges which face the College in the coming weeks and months.  Dame Lynne will support a transition period during the summer.  We look forward to getting to know Ernest, and his wife Janette, and to their involvement in College life and leadership.”

Sir Ernest says: “Janette and I are delighted to be joining Pembroke, and look forward to meeting academics, staff, students and alumni in the coming weeks and months.  We are all eagerly anticipating the time when we can be together in Oxford again.  I look forward to playing my part in securing College’s future and celebrating our important values as we approach the 400th anniversary of our foundation.”

Educated at Bolton School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, Sir Ernest was called to the bar in 1981 and became a QC in 1997.  He was appointed a Justice of the High Court in 2004 and was both the Presiding Judge of the Northern Circuit and its Family Division Liaison Judge.  He was the judge in charge of the modernisation of family justice responsible for the creation of the Family Court.

In 2013 Sir Ernest was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal and privy counsellor, and in 2015 was appointed Senior President of Tribunals for the United Kingdom, one of the five heads of jurisdiction who preside over the judiciary.  This involved leading the largest specialist part of the judicial system, with more than 5,500 judicial office holders working across the four different geographic jurisdictions of the UK.  He has also led a £1bn change transformation programme for the justice system to modernise the courts and tribunals.

Sir Ernest has written and lectured widely on family law, the role of a modern judiciary, the leadership and governance of justice and cultural conflicts in justice.  He has research interests in a variety of socio-legal areas, and is a Visiting Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford, as well as sitting on the Advisory Boards of various European Institutes and Universities on research concerning access to justice.  On his arrival in Oxford Sir Ernest will also become a Senior Associate of the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies in the Department of Law.

As a Trustee of the Nuffield Foundation, Sir Ernest has worked with colleagues to develop a sustainable model for research in justice, welfare and education, and to integrate quantitative and economic work into many of the Foundation’s justice projects.  He is the Chair of the Administrative Justice Council and holds Honorary Professorships and doctorates from the Universities of Lancaster and Bolton. He is also a trustee of the Charities Aid Foundation.

Between 2014 and 2017 Sir Ernest was Chancellor of the University of Bolton, and he continues his involvement in his home area as a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater Manchester.