Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks

Edward Peter Lawless Faulks, Baron Faulks QC (born 19 August 1950), is an English barrister and unaffiliated peer. He was Minister of State for Justice between December 2013 and July 2016 and is the current Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO).

The Right Honourable

The Lord Faulks

QC
Minister of State for Civil Justice and Legal Policy
In office
20 January 2014 – 19 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byThe Lord McNally
Succeeded byNo appointment
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Assumed office
21 July 2010
Life Peerage
Personal details
Born
Edward Peter Lawless Faulks

(1950-08-19) 19 August 1950
NationalityEnglish
Political partyUnaffiliated (formerly Conservative)
Spouse(s)Catherine Frances Turner
Children2
OccupationBarrister

Background and education
Wellington College, Berkshire

Faulks is the son of His Honour Peter Ronald Faulks MC and Pamela Faulks (née Lawless). The novelist Sebastian Faulks is his younger brother. His uncle was Sir Neville Faulks, a High Court judge.

He was educated at Wellington College and Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated with an MA and now serves as an Honorary Fellow [1]. He was called to the Bar, Middle Temple, in 1973.

Career

Faulks became a Queen's Counsel in 1996 and a Recorder in 2000. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He became a bencher in 2002. He was a Literary Agent, for Curtis Brown, from 1980–81. He was an Assistant Recorder, 1996–2000. He was Chairman of the Professional Negligence Bar Association 2002–04 and Special Advisor to the Department for Constitutional Affairs on compensation culture, 2005–06. In 2010 he was created a life peer as Baron Faulks, of Donnington in the Royal County of Berkshire.[2]

In December 2013 it was announced that with effect from 20 January 2014 Faulks would become a Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice.[3] He served in this role until July 2016 when he resigned from the government voicing concerns about the appointment of a non lawyer, Liz Truss, as Secretary of State for Justice by new prime minister Theresa May.[4]

Baron Faulks was appointed a Justice at the Astana International Financial Centre Court in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018.[5]

Since January 2020, he has been Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation,[6] the independent regulator of the majority of newspapers and magazines in the UK.

Controversy
  • On 10 June 2015, Faulks questioned in the House of Lords "whether it is always necessary for everybody who has quite real problems to have a lawyer at £200-odd an hour, or whether there are better and more effective ways of giving advice".[7] The fact-checking web-site FullFact.org investigated and concluded that the claim was untrue - only in exceptionally rare circumstances do lawyers command such charges, with £50-£70 per hour being a routine fee.[8]

Other activities

Faulks is a contributing editor to Local Authority Liabilities, 1998, 4th edition 2009. He is on the board of the social enterprise Liberty Kitchen, set up to reduce recidivism at Pentonville Prison.[9]

Personal life

Lord Faulks married Catherine Frances Turner, daughter of Lindsay Turner and Anthea Cadbury, in 1990. They have two sons. Catherine Faulks is a Conservative councillor on Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council.[10][11]

gollark: There are tons of ethical theories. Utilitarianism. Various deontological (I do not know if I'm spelling that right) ones. Virtue ethics-y ones.
gollark: I think they aren't *objectively true*, but worth doing things about despite to some degree reducing to arbitrary preferences.
gollark: There *is* ethical philosophy other than utilitarianism you know?
gollark: Which is only "wrong"/"bad" according to whatever ethical standard.
gollark: Arbitrary preference™.

References
  1. "Honorary Fellows | Jesus College, University of Oxford". www.jesus.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  2. "No. 59497". The London Gazette. 26 July 2010. p. 14201.
  3. "Ministerial changes: December 2013". 18 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  4. Gibb, Frances (19 July 2016). "Justice minister quits with blast at 'novice' lord chancellor". The Times. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  5. "UK judges head new court in Kazakhstan". www.thetimes.co.uk.
  6. "Eminent QC appointed as IPSO Chairman". www.ipso.co.uk. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  7. "Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012", Lords Hansard, 10 June 2015
  8. "Legal aid lawyers aren't on £200 an hour". FullFact.org. 6 July 2015.
  9. "Our Board". www.libertykitchen.org. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  10. "Lord Feldman's failure to vote leaves Faulks furious". Daily Telegraph.
  11. "Cllr Catherine Faulks". RBKC. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  • Who's who 2011 (163rd ed.). London: A. & C. Black. 2010. ISBN 978-1-4081-2856-5.

Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
The Lord Beecham		 Gentlemen
Baron Faulks 		Followed by
The Lord Allan of Hallam
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