Masters of the Bench

After reading History and Law at Cambridge, Adrian Williamson was called to the Bar in 1983. After some years of general common law work, he joined Keating Chambers in 1989 and has been in practice there ever since. His work has been almost exclusively in the field of construction law. He took silk in 2002. He has been appointed a Recorder (Civil) in 2004, a Recorder (Crime) 2009 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 2010.

In parallel with his life at the Bar, he has also pursued a career as a historian, obtaining a PhD at Cambridge in 2014 and being elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 2015. His PhD was published in 2015 as Conservative Economic Policymaking and the Birth of Thatcherism, 1964-1979. He teaches history part-time at Cambridge and has also published on a wide range of topics, including trade union and gender history.

His other interests include politics (in which he serves as Treasurer of the Society of Labour Lawyers) and sport (Season ticket holder at Arsenal). He is married with three children and three grandchildren, none of whom has yet shown any desire to pursue a legal career.