Aikens, Richard

Person

Aikens, Richard

1948-

Sir Richard John Pearson Aikens was born on 28 August 1948. He is a retired British judge, who was a Lord Justice of Appeal from 2008 to 2015. He was educated at Norwich School from 1960 – 1967 and then at St. John's College Cambridge from1967 - 70 and 1971 – 2, graduating with an MA in History and Law.
He was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1973 and received the Harmsworth Scholarship in 1974. Aikens joined what is now Brick Court Chambers in 1974 and practised in commercial law, specialising in shipping, insurance and re-insurance, banking, international trade and arbitration. He was appointed QC in 1986 and his commercial practice thereafter widened to include telecommunications, oil and gas and professional negligence.
He was a Recorder of the Crown Court from 1993-1999 and, before his appointment to the High Court Queen’s bench in 1999, he was in demand as an arbitrator in shipping and insurance disputes. He was a judge of the Commercial and Admiralty Courts from 1999-2008 and was in charge of the Commercial Court in 2005-6. In November 2008 Aikens became a Lord Justice of Appeal and he was appointed to the Privy Council that same year. In the High Court and Court of Appeal he sat on a very wide range of cases. He conducted cases/arbitrations and advised in foreign jurisdictions, in particular Hong Kong, Singapore, Gibraltar, Bermuda, Australia, the USA, France and Switzerland. In the commercial sphere he gave judgments in all areas, including Republic of Ecuador v Occidental Exploration and Production Company, which was the first case in the English courts concerning Bilateral Investment Treaties and whether awards made under them were justiciable in court. He also gave judgments in many aspects of civil law, EU/competition law and public law (especially extradition). He conducted criminal trials and appeals in a wide variety of cases from murder to official secrets and fraud. He retired as a Lord Justice of Appeal on 2 November 2015. After retirement as a judge, Aikens rejoined Brick Court Chambers as a door tenant.
Aikens is one of the authors of "Bills of Landing", and has written many articles on legal topics, particularly on conflicts of laws. He is a contributing editor to Bullen & Leake & Jacobs “Predecents of Pleading”. He also contributed to “Tom Bingham and the Transformation of the Law: a liber amicorum” and “Reforming Marine and Commercial Insurance Law". He is the joint editor with Kenneth Richardson of “Law and Society: which is to be Master”.
Aikens lectured regularly (in English and French) and chaired conferences throughout his judicial career. Whilst at the bar he was a director and chairman of the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund (the Bar’s professional negligence insurers), which he helped to found in 1985. In 2012-14 he was President of the British Insurance Law Association. He taught commercial law at King’s College, University of London from 2016 and is a Visiting Professor at both King's College and Queen Mary University of London.
Aikens was a Governor of Sedbergh School from 1988-1997. He was a director of English National Opera from 1995-2004. He is currently chairman of the Temple Music Foundation (since 2002), which promotes music in the Temple. He was also President of the British Insurance Law Association from 2012-14. He is married with 2 sons and 2 step daughters.

Profile of Richard Aikens from the Brick Court Chambers website.
Profile of Richard Aikens from the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple website.