First Sikh judge of UK high court sworn in
Rabinder Singh, a leading lawyer who successfully appeared on behalf of Indian doctors in an immigration case in 2007, has been sworn in as the first Sikh judge of the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice. Singh, 47, is the son of Indian immigrants, and studied at the Bristol Grammar School and the University of Cambridge.
Singh is the first Sikh judge of the High Court, but not the first Sikh to be appointed to a senior level in Britain’s judiciary.
The first Sikh and Asian to be appointed a judge was Mota Singh, who was knighted in 2010.
A leading human rights lawyer, Rabinder Singh told the Law Society Gazette: “I am a barrister who happens to be a Sikh. I have always tried to be a role model, by the work I do. I haven’t said, ‘I’m a Sikh barrister, look at what I do’. I’ve just said, ‘Look at what I do’. Everyone can see what I am.”
Singh is best known through his work suggesting that the 2003 invasion of Iraq broke international law.
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UK gets first Sikh, second non-white HC judge
Ashis Ray, TNN
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-12/uk/30270687_1_sir-mota-singh-sikh-lords-case
LONDON: Leading human rights lawyer Rabinder Singh (47) was sworn in as the high court of England and Wales's first Sikh and the second non-white judge on Monday . Rabinder is the second Sikh to be appointed to Britain's higher judiciary. Sir Mota Singh, knighted in 2010, was appointed a judge of the Crown Courts that are a tier below the high court in 1982.
He studied at Bristol Grammar School and Cambridge University. Rabinder was one of the founders of Matrix Chambers, where former British PM Tony Blair's wife, Cherie Blair, was a cofounder . Rabinder successfully appeared on behalf of Indian doctors in a high profile immigration case in 2007.
Rabinder once told the Law Society Gazette, "I am a barrister who happens to be a Sikh. I have always tried to be a role model, by the work I do. I haven't said, 'I'm a Sikh barrister , look at what I do' . I've just said, 'Look at what I do' . Everyone can see what I am."
He is famous for his work which argued that the 2003 invasion of Iraq - in which Britain under Blair took part - broke the international law. Rabinder is also well known for his plea in the landmark 2004 House of Lords case that outlawed indefinite detention of foreign terror suspects. He would wear a turban instead of a traditional judicial wig. Sir Mota, too, has always sported a white turban.
The bench is predominantly a white, Oxford-Cambridge old boys' club. Of the five recently recognized judges , four were white men.