Her Majesty the Queen has appointed District Judge Philip Nigel Gilpin as a County Court Judge in Northern Ireland. The judge was sworn into office before Sir Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, on 5 September 2019.
The Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission (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 County Court judge falls within the list of statutory offices in the Schedule and therefore within the remit of NIJAC.
• District Judge Philip Gilpin was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in Northern Ireland in September 1994.
• Following his admission to the Roll of Solicitors he worked as a Solicitor in private practice and enjoyed a mixed case load of both contentious and non-contentious work which provided him with broad experience of legal issues. He developed a specialism in civil litigation particularly judicial review applications and chancery proceedings.
• From 2010 – 2012 District Judge Gilpin was employed as The Solicitor to the Attorney General and was the Attorney’s primary source of advice on a range of legal issues many of which were complex and sensitive.
• In 2012 District Judge Gilpin was appointed as a District Judge in Northern Ireland, and as part of this role he holds a concurrent appointment as a Deputy County Court Judge. In this role he is responsible for exercising the general civil jurisdiction of the County Court including preparing for, case managing and presiding over hearing and giving judgements on a wide range of issues.