Robert Peel

Spear's Review

Sir Robert Peel, previously a barrister in 29 Bedford Row chambers, was benched in 2020 and assigned to the family division of the High Court.

In 2022 he was appointed lead judge in the Financial Remedies Court, meaning he is responsible for overseeing the complex financial outcomes of family law cases in England and Wales. 

He will decide the fate of billions of pounds, but Justice Peel does not only have money to worry about. The family courts are going through a privacy revolution, initiated by Sir Andrew McFarlane’s far-reaching 2021 report Confidence and Confidentiality: Transparency in the Family Court, which attempts to manage a balance between the principle of open justice, freedom of the press and the right to a private family life granted by Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.