News Publication Date: 18 November 2011
The Island’s First Deemster David Doyle has been elected as a Bencher of Gray’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court in London. It is believed that Deemster Doyle is the first full time Deemster ever to be awarded the honour of election as a Bencher.
The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn at their governing body’s meeting on the 10 November 2011 accorded Deemster Doyle “a voice and vote”.
David Doyle trained as a barrister in London and joined the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn in 1981. Having passed the English Bar Final Examinations he was called to the Bar of England and Wales as an English Barrister on the 29 July 1982. He then went on to pass the Manx Bar Examinations and was called to the Manx Bar as a Manx Advocate on the 6 December 1984. In March 2003 he was appointed Second Deemster and in December 2010 he was appointed Her Majesty’s First Deemster and Clerk of the Rolls (the Chief Justice of the Island).
Fellow Benchers of Gray’s Inn include present Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (the Island’s final appeal court), namely Lady Hale, Lord Hope (the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom), Lord Kerr and Lord Phillips (the current President of the Supreme
Court of the United Kingdom).
Lord Hoffmann (formerly Lord of Appeal in Ordinary), Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas (Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States of America), Robert French (Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia their final appeal court), Susan Crennan and John Heydon (Justices of the High Court of Australia), Derek Bok (President Emeritus of Harvard University), Dominique Hascher (Presiding Judge Court of Appeal France), Henry Litton (Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal, Hong Kong), Geoffrey Tao-Li Ma (Chief Judge of the High Court of Hong Kong), and Beverley McLachlin (Chief Justice of Canada), are also amongst Deemster Doyle’s fellow benchers at Gray’s Inn.
Deemster Doyle commented:
'I started my legal and judicial career off at Gray’s Inn in the early 1980s as a student after university and well remember my days in the library and nights in the dining hall. I am greatly honoured, and more than a little surprised, that the Inn has seen fit to elect me as a Bencher. My election as a Bencher with ‘voice and vote’ will assist me in strengthening the links between the Island and Gray’s Inn and increasing the profile of the Island amongst senior judicial decision makers worldwide.'