Sir Rupert Jackson

Sir Rupert Jackson practised as a barrister from 1973 to 1998. After serving as a judge for some twenty years, he rejoined Chambers as an arbitrator in March 2018. Since then he has sat on numerous international arbitration tribunals, either as chairman or wingman.  He has also conducted numerous adjudications and mediations.

Sir Rupert has expertise in construction law, professional negligence, insurance and general commercial work. He is a CEDR accredited mediator.

During his practice at the Bar, Sir Rupert appeared as counsel in both domestic and international arbitrations, principally in London and Hong Kong. He also sat as arbitrator.

Sir Rupert and John Powell QC jointly wrote Jackson & Powell on Professional Negligence, which first appeared in 1982. That work is now in its ninth edition, entitled Jackson & Powell on Professional Liability, with contributions from many members of chambers. It is the leading textbook in the field. Sir Rupert remains as consultant editor.

Sir Rupert was Chairman of the Professional Negligence Bar Association from 1993 to 1995. He was head of chambers from 1994 to 1996.

Sir Rupert was appointed to the High Court bench in January 1999. He served as judge in charge of the Technology and Construction Court from 2004 to 2007. He presided over the heaviest construction and engineering cases coming before that court, including several long actions concerning the construction of Wembley Stadium. He dealt with many arbitration applications and appeals, as well as numerous issues arising from adjudications.

In October 2008 Sir Rupert was appointed to the Court of Appeal. In 2009, he was entrusted with the task of reviewing the funding of civil litigation and the procedural rules, to make recommendations for promoting access to justice at proportionate cost. He proposed wide-ranging reforms. These were introduced in 2013 and are working well. In 2016 he was asked to propose further reforms. He published a Supplemental Report in July 2017, which was implemented in October 2023.

As a lord justice of appeal, Sir Rupert undertook a wide range of work and gave leading judgments in many areas of the law.

He sat on numerous appeals concerning construction and engineering issues, almost always giving the principal judgment. His later cases included Carillion Construction v Emcor Engineering Services [2017] EWCA Civ 65; Sutton Housing v Rydon Maintenance [2017] EWCA Civ 359; Persimmon Homes v Ove Arup [2017] EWCA Civ 373; Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Trust v ATOS IT Services [2017] EWCA Civ 2196; Adam Architecture v Halsbury Homes [2017] EWCA Civ 1735; Amey Birmingham Highways Ltd v Birmingham City Council [2018] EWCA Civ 264; S&T (UK) Ltd v Grove Developments Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 2448; Manchikalapati v Zurich Insurance Plc [2019] EWCA Civ 2163.

Both as a High Court judge and as a lord justice of appeal, Sir Rupert gained a reputation for delivering judgments promptly and for clarity. His judgments (like his arbitration awards) are divided into separate parts and clearly signposted for the assistance of readers.

Sir Rupert was President of the Professional Negligence Bar Association from 2010 to 2022. He was President of the Society of Construction Law from 2012 to 2018.

Sir Rupert has given many lectures on civil justice issues, arbitration, professional negligence and construction law in the UK, Australia, Brazil, Dublin, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mauritius, New Zealand and Singapore.

Sir Rupert is on the LCIA panel of arbitrators, the SIAC panel of arbitrators and the HKIAC panel of arbitrators. He is on the TECBAR panel of adjudicators and the TeCSA panel of adjudicators. He is also a part-time judge of the Astana International Financial Centre Court.

Sir Rupert conducts a large number of mediations. He believes that this is often the best way to resolve complex commercial or construction disputes, for the benefit of all parties and to avoid the haemorrhaging of costs.

Sir Rupert is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. His recent books include:

• The Reform of Civil Justice (second edition written jointly with Stephen Clark), Sweet & Maxwell 2018
• The Roman Occupation of Britain and its Legacy, Bloomsbury, 2021 (see: www.bloomsbury.com/9781350149373/).  The Times has  recommended this as summer reading for lawyers.

In 2021 Cambridge University awarded Sir Rupert an LLD on the basis of his civil justice reports and other published legal works.

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