John Wall (judge)

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Sir John Anthony Wall
CBE
Personal details
Born(1930-06-04)4 June 1930
London, United Kingdom
Died1 December 2008(2008-12-01) (aged 78)
Childrenfour sons[1]
Alma materBalliol College, Oxford

Sir John Anthony Wall

CBE (4 June 1930 – 1 December 2008) was a British lawyer and Deputy Master of the High Court and the first visually impaired judge at the High Court of Justice of the 20th century.[1]

Biography

Wall was born in

Higher School Certificate, he was accepted into Balliol College, Oxford where he read jurisprudence and graduated in 1951.[1]
He also played chess at school and university.

His blindness presented him with difficulties in finding a job; he made over 400 job applications after graduating and was invited to 53 interviews before he was offered a job as an

National Association of Local Government Officers (now part of Unison). Around this time he attempted to become a judge, but his application was rejected due to the potential difficulties his blindness could cause (as he would be unable to read court documents or study witnesses, for example) and because it was felt appointing a blind judge would not leave the public confident he could perform his duties.[1]

After 18 years as a legal adviser with NALGO, he joined the law firm Middleton Lewis in 1974 as a partner specialising in litigation, staying on when the firm merged with

Chancery Division in 1991. He is believed to be the first blind person to be appointed to judicial office in modern times,[3] and possibly the first since the 18th century.[4] A clerk helped him to deal with his paperwork, reading the case materials to him before court hearings and reading barristers' written submissions. He was noted for his speed, work ethic and efficiency.[1] In 1993 he retired as a partner at Lawrence Graham, and retired from his position as a Deputy Master in 2002.[1]

He was chairman of the

Commander of the Order of the British Empire, "For services to Blind People",[5] and was knighted in the 2000 Queen's Birthday Honours, "For services to Disabled People".[6]

He married twice, and had four sons from his first marriage. He died on 1 December 2008 of heart failure.[1] He was survived by his sons; both of his wives predeceased him.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Obituaries: Times Online Sir John Wall". The Times. London. 11 December 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
  2. PMID 17491858
    .
  3. ^ Breaking ground on the bench -- John Wall, Law Society Gazette, 20 February 1991
  4. ^ 'Wake-up' call for firms on disability Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine, Law Society Gazette, 28 February 2008
  5. ^ "No. 53696". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 June 1994. p. 10.
  6. ^ "No. 55879". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 June 2000. p. 1.
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