Derek Schofield

Derek Schofield (born 20 February 1945), is a British lawyer and the former Chief Justice of Gibraltar.

Biography He commenced his legal career in 1961 when he was appointed assistant in the office of the clerk of the court in Lancashire. He was called to the bar in 1970, at Gray's Inn in London.

He has served as the Senior Judge in the Cayman Islands, and a high court judge in Kenya.

He is known for his strong support of human rights and the independence of the judiciary which led him to resign as high court judge and leave Kenya with his family in 1987 when he refused to be influenced by strong political interference in a case.

During his term as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, he made several significant decisions, including the ruling that it is unconstitutional for jury service to be compulsory only for men. The decision was reversed on appeal and then went to the Privy Council, who overturned the Gibraltar Government objection of equality for women in jury service.

On 17 September 2007 Schofield was suspended on full pay pending the inquiry into his removal from office. It has been reported that at one earlier moment in time he was offered full remuneration until his retirement in return for his resignation, but that he declined this offer.

Tribunal A tribunal was convened in Gibraltar, chaired by Lord Cullen with Sir Peter Gibson and Sir Jonathan Parker, to determine whether to refer his appointment to the Privy Council. The full Inquiry report, which recommended that his appointment should be reviewed, along with the daily transcript and other documents regarding the dispute is available from the Gibraltar Chronicle document repository site.

There are mixed views over the report of the tribunal, which it is claimed went further than its mandate and made a string of assumptions which it is claimed "show how little grasp of the local social and political situation the three judges actually had."

On 18 November 2008 the Governor of Gibraltar released a statement that he had referred the case to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Privy Council The Privy Council cancelled the original hearing of this matter which was scheduled for 27–29 January 2009.

In June 2009 of the Privy Council considered the matter. The Governor was represented by Tim Otty QC, the Government of Gibraltar by James Eady QC, the Gibraltar lawyers who complained appeared as litigants in person, by Robert Vasquez of Triay & Triay, lawyers in Gibraltar. Chief Justice Schofield was represented by the Hon Michael Beloff QC from Blackstone Chambers and Paul Stanley from Essex Court Chambers and briefed by Charles Gomez from Gibraltar.

On 12 November 2009 the Privy Council judgement was released in which by a 4:3 majority they supported the removal of the Chief Justice from office.

Removal from office On 17 November 2009 the following notice was issued:

"Acting on the advice received from the Judicial Service Commission, HE The Governor, Sir Adrian Johns, has today carried out the removal by means of dismissal of Mr Justice Schofield from the office of Chief Justice."