NIJAC has appointed Mr John Francis Larkin QC as a Temporary High Court Judge in Northern Ireland.
The judge was sworn into office before Sir Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, on 31 January 2020.
NIJAC has responsibility for the selection of persons for recommendation for appointment to the judicial offices listed in Schedule 1 to the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, as amended by the Northern Ireland Act 2009. The office of Temporary High Court judge falls within the list of statutory offices in the Schedule and therefore within the remit of NIJAC.
Please see below pen picture for the new appointee:
- Mr John Francis Larkin QC
Mr Larkin graduated from Queens University Belfast and was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland in 1986. He was later called to the Bar of Ireland. Between 1989 and 1991 in addition to working as junior counsel Mr Larkin was Reid Professor of Criminal Law in Trinity College Dublin.
Mr Larkin took Silk in 2001 and proceeded to work as Queens Council in Private Practice mainly in Constitutional and Administrative Law and Human Rights.
In May 2010 Mr Larkin QC was appointed Attorney General for Northern Ireland. Mr Larkin QC was the first person to hold the office separately since its functions were given to the Attorney General for England and Wales in 1972.
Other roles Mr Larkin QC holds are:
- Member of the Bar of Ireland
- Member of the European Law Institute
- Member of the FrancoBritish Lawyers Society
- Founder and current member of the Irish Legal History Society