Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf

Woolf was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, on 2 May 1933, to Alexander Susman Woolf and his wife Leah (née Cussins). His grandfather Harry was a naturalised Briton of Polish and Russian Jewish origins. His father had been a fine art dealer, but was persuaded to run his own building business instead by his wife. They had four children, but their first child died, and his mother was protective of the three surviving children. Woolf lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne until he was about five years old, when his family moved to Glasgow, Scotland, where he attended Glasgow Academy going on to Fettes College, an Edinburgh public school, where he mostly enjoyed his time and had supportive friends.

Woolf formed much of his sense of justice and fairness from his experiences at Fettes College. On one occasion while combing his hair, Woolf leaned into a neighbouring dormitory cubicle to use the mirror. A prefect reported this as the school had strict rules about being in other pupils' cubicles, but Woolf felt that he had not broken the rules because he did not have his feet inside the cubicle at the time. He appealed for fairness, but his housemaster, who had been in the army, increased Woolf's punishment from six strokes of the cane to eight.[1]

Woolf had read books about lawyers and wanted to be a barrister. His housemaster told him that this was not a suitable career-choice for him because he had a stutter, but this only made Woolf more determined in his vocation. His A level results gained him a place at the University of Cambridge; however, he studied law at University College London (UCL) instead as a consequence of his parents' move to London at about that time.[1]

Woolf chose to be a barrister in 1955 and began practising on the Oxford circuit. He became Junior Counsel to the Inland Revenue (Common Law) from 1973 to 1974, and was promoted to First Junior Treasury Counsel (Common Law) from 1974 to 1979.

A significant part of his practice as the "Treasury Devil" was in the development of the nascent Administrative Law from four ancient Prerogative Writs. Before the Administrative Court was established, almost all judicial reviews were heard before the Lord Chief Justice sitting in a Divisional Court of the Queen's Bench Division, with Woolf commonly appearing for the Crown.

When he took silk he was almost immediately appointed as a High Court judge [1] in that Division in 1979, aged 45, and received the customary accolade of knighthood.

He was promoted to Lord Justice of Appeal and automatically made a member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council (PC) in 1986.

• On 26 July 1983, Woolf's judgment in the high court, Gillick v West Norfolk & Wisbech AHA & DHSS [1983] 3 WLR (QBD), clarified the law under which doctors could prescribe contraception to minors.[9][10]
• On 6 February 1997, three judges, led by Woolf, Master of the Rolls, said that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had failed to exercise discretion when it denied Diane Blood the right to have her dead husband's child in March 1995.[11] The decision allowed Blood to have a child using her former husband's sperm, which was obtained shortly before he died.
• Pearce v United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust [1999] PIQR 53.
• In October 2000, Woolf reduced the minimum sentence of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson for the murder of James Bulger by two years in recognition of their good behaviour and remorse shown while in detention, effectively restoring the original trial judge's eight-year recommended minimum sentence.[12]
• In July 2002, Woolf, together with Mr Justice Curtis and Mr Justice Henriques, refused Barry George's first appeal against his conviction for the murder of Jill Dando.[13] However, in November 2007, the next Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, in the light of further expert opinions of the forensic evidence, declared George's conviction "unsafe" and also ordered a retrial.[14] George was held in custody pending retrial and following an eight-week hearing he was acquitted on 1 August 2008.[15]

Other judgments include:

• Vaughan v Barlow Clowes International Ltd [1991] EWCA Civ 11 - English trusts law, concerning tracing
• Fitzpatrick v British Railways Board [1992] ICR 221, [1992] IRLR 376 - UK labour law, concerning collective bargaining

Woolf, an Ashkenazi Jew, first met his wife Marguerite Sassoon, a Sephardi Jew, at a social event which was organised by a mutual friend at the National Liberal Club. They married early in 1961[16] and have three sons who have all entered the legal profession, as well as seven grandchildren.[1]

Woolf was a member of the American Philosophical Society (1977)[17] and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1983).[17][18] He was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) in 2000[19] and an Honorary Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2002.[20]

In the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH).[21] In the same year, he was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.[22]

• Press Release on QFC Court appointment
• CV from Blackstone Chambers. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
• Speech by his successor
• An Uncommon Lawyer

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harry Woolf.

• Lord Woolf speaking about the role of the Judiciary and about the new Supreme Court.
• Lord Woolf's Inquiry into the LSE and Libya, March 2011.