Ben Stephens
| Ben Stephens
| |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Judge |
| Known for | Justice of the UK Supreme Court, 2020–; former member of the Government Civil Panel of Counsel in Northern Ireland |
Ben Stephens (Lord Stephens of Creevyloughgare) is a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. A chambers release names him as one of five justices hearing the appeal by Huda Ammori against the proscription of Palestine Action on 4 and 5 November 2026. The Court's case page, last updated in July 2026, lists four.[1][2] He is due to retire on 7 April 2027.[3]
Career
He studied law at Manchester University and was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1977, of England and Wales in 1978, and of Ireland in 1996, taking silk in 1996. From 2004 to January 2007 he was a senior member of the Government Civil Panel of Counsel in Northern Ireland, doing proceeds-of-crime recovery cases. He was appointed to the High Court of Northern Ireland in 2007, sitting in the Family Division and later the Queen's Bench Division. He was a Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commissioner from 2013 to 2020 and a Lord Justice of Appeal from 2017. He joined the Supreme Court on 1 October 2020.[4][5]
Counsel magazine reported that his father, a barrister, served in the British Colonial Legal Service in Nigeria and Malta before becoming a Queen's Bench Master in Belfast.[6]
Arms fair protest
In DPP v Ziegler [2021] UKSC 23 he and Lord Hamblen gave the majority judgment restoring the acquittals of protesters who had blocked a road to the DSEI arms fair in 2017. The court held that a lawful excuse defence to obstruction of the highway can turn on whether a conviction would be a proportionate interference with the rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Lord Hodge and Lord Sales dissented in part.[7]
Interests
The Supreme Court does not publish a register of the justices' interests.[8] No link to Israel, Jewish communal bodies or arms companies was found in the public record.
See also
Notes
- ↑ 3VB, Can Yeginsu acts for English PEN and PEN International as the Supreme Court hears the Palestine Action proscription appeal, 4 November 2026.
- ↑ UK Supreme Court, R (on the application of Ammori) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, UKSC 2026/0099, case page, accessed 5 November 2026.
- ↑ UK Supreme Court, Lord Stephens to retire from the Supreme Court and JCPC, news release.
- ↑ UK Supreme Court, Lord Stephens, biography, accessed 5 November 2026.
- ↑ UK Government, Appointment to the Supreme Court, 25 August 2020.
- ↑ Northern Irish at heart: Lord Stephens, Counsel.
- ↑ UK Supreme Court, Press summary: DPP v Ziegler and others, 25 June 2021.
- ↑ UK Supreme Court, Justices' financial interests, accessed 5 November 2026.