It was unsurprising to learn that Lady Hale has been appointed to become the new President of the Supreme Court. The current Deputy was always set to replace the current President, Lord Neuberger, who will be retiring later on this year.

A related question is who will replace Lady Hale as the Deputy but this will not be announced until later on this year. The leading candidates, based on seniority, are Lord Mance, Lord Kerr and Lord Clarke although Mance and Clarke are both set to retire in 2018.

Most interestingly there will be three new Justices of the Supreme Court and before October it is worth examining their career highlights to gain an idea of what to expect:

Lady Justice Black

After entering the judiciary in 1996, Lady Justice Black worked her way up and was appointed to the Court of Appeal back in 2010. Like the only other female Justice appointed to the Supreme Court, Lady Hale, her specialisation is in family law and is the current Head of International Family Justice.

Arguably her most important judicial highlight came in a test case towards the end of 2015 when a white couple were allowed to adopt two African boys despite the argument that there were significant cultural differences. The concept of racial identity was seen to be less important than ensuring that children were able to grow up with a loving family.

The decision effectively implemented government guidance that race should not act as a barrier to adoption although the issue may enter the court system again ahead of Lady Justice Black’s appointment as a Sikh couple living in Theresa May’s constituency have been told not to apply for adoption as only white children are available.

Lord Justice Lloyd Jones

Barnwr Cymraeg! If Lady Justice Black is making history as the second female Justice then Lord Justice Lloyd Jones is doing the same thing as the first Welsh Justice.

Lloyd Jones was first appointed as a High Court judge in 2005 and later joined the Court of Appeal in 2012. Between 2012 and 2015 he was the Chairman of the Law Commission and during that time a number of significant reports were produced. These include reports in relation to matrimonial property, hate crime and taxi and private hire services.

When sitting as a judge the current Lord Justice has also made some important decisions across a range of issues. Most notably he recently dismissed an appeal by the former mayor of Tower Hamlets, Luftur Rahman, after he was barred from running for public office for five years due to a finding of corruption and illegal practices against him. He also found in favour of an NHS whistleblower who had not been fairly compensated following his unfair dismissal.

With devolution being one of the key issues at the heart of Brexit it is possible, if not likely, that any judicial review of legislation that affects the Welsh Assembly will find its way to the Supreme Court. Now that the court has its own Welsh Justice the country will be fairly represented in the context of any decision.

Lord Justice Briggs

With a background in trusts and commercial law, Lord Justice Briggs offers the new group of Supreme Court Justices a wide range of coverage. He was only appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2013 but has had a prestigious and illustrious career. In particular he led the Chancery Modernisation Review in 2013 and so has great experience in relation to court procedure and streamlining that he can hopefully being to the Supreme Court.

In 2012 Briggs was the main figure in a case that upheld a challenge to ‘exit consents’, a restructuring technique involving bonds. This was not, however, the only major involvement that the Lord Justice had in the aftermath to the 2008 financial crisis as he played a role in the Lehman insolvency proceedings. His lecture to the Bar Association for Commerce, Finance and Industry on how the English legal system coped with the financial crisis makes compelling reading and speaks to the importance of speed and efficiency within the courts when approaching a vast swathe of litigation. With Brexit also expected to put a strain on the UK’s legal institutions it will be interesting to see what lessons have been learned since 2008.

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The group of Justices joining the Supreme Court represent a significant proportion of the judicial lineup ahead of Brexit and the legal wranglings that will involve. Their exact thoughts on the various constitutional issues that this will throw up are not clear but the depth and breadth of the legal knowledge on display is inspiring and a cause for hope.