Masters of the Bench

Philippa Whipple is a Court of Appeal judge.  She previously sat as a High Court judge in the Queen’s Bench Division (as it then was).

She read Law at Merton College, Oxford and is an Honorary Fellow of that College. After university she trained as a solicitor, taking her Law Society Finals at Guildford College of Law, before undertaking a training contract at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, with stints in its Hong Kong and Paris offices. She qualified in the tax department, where she worked for several years before changing career track.

Philippa transferred to the Bar and became a tenant at 1 Crown Office Row (then headed by Master Seabrook) where she practised for 21 years, taking silk during that time. 

She had an unusually broad civil practice, specialising in medical law (including professional discipline and medical negligence), public law (including human rights) and tax. From 2010-13 she was Lead Counsel to the Detainee Inquiry chaired by Sir Peter Gibson to investigate allegations of ill-treatment of detainees by British intelligence officials in the aftermath of 9/11.

Her judicial career started in 2005 when she was appointed a Recorder on the Western Circuit, initially sitting in crime but later in civil. In 2013 she was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge in the Administrative Court.  She was appointed a full-time High Court Judge in 2015.

She was a judicial commissioner at the Judicial Appointments Commission from 2016-2018, and was a presiding judge on the South Eastern Circuit from August 2018 until November 2021 when she went to the Court of Appeal.  

She was elected a Bencher in 2012 and has sat on and chaired the Inn’s Finance & Resources Committee.  

Philippa is married to Sam, a media consultant and former journalist. They have three sons.