NEW UK ADVOCATE GENERAL APPOINTED TO THE EUROPEAN COURT

14 Oct 2005 02:15 PM

Ms Eleanor Sharpston QC has been appointed as the new British Advocate General to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg. Ms Sharpston, who will replace Advocate General Francis Jacobs following his retirement in December, will be the UK's first female member of the ECJ.

Welcoming the appointment, Douglas Alexander MP, Minister for Europe, said:

"I am delighted to learn of Eleanor Sharpston's successful nomination as the new British Advocate General at the European Court of Justice. On behalf of the UK Government I would like to offer her my warmest congratulations."

Ms Sharpston was nominated by the UK Government following an open competition for the post. The nomination was then approved by common accord of the Governments of all the Member States.

Notes for Editors

1. Copy of Eleanor Sharpston's CV below

Date of Birth: 13 July 1955

Nationality: British

Education:

Eleanor Sharpston went as a classicist to King's College, Cambridge, where she then read economics and modern languages, graduating as an economist in 1976, before switching to law as a graduate. She did research at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in economics and law, combining this with her professional training for the Bar.

Career

Called to the Bar (Middle Temple) in 1980. Once qualified she soon started to specialise in EU (then, EEC) law. After spending time as the Middle Temple Bristow Scholar in the Legal Service of the European Commission and at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in Luxembourg, she joined the chambers of Jeremy Lever QC in Brussels, by whom she was led in a wide variety of competition and anti-dumping cases.

From 1987 to 1990 she served as "referendaire" (judicial assistant) to Sir Gordon Slynn (a period which bridged his mandates as Advocate General and then as Judge) at the ECJ.

Ms Sharpston returned to the UK in 1990 to pursue parallel careers in academia and in practice at the Bar. She soon became a member of the Treasury Supplementary Panel. Over the succeeding years, she has appeared in over 50 cases before the ECJ on behalf of the UK. She has also appeared in cases against the UK both before the ECJ and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

She took silk in 1999, served as chairman of the Bar European Group in 2003/2004 and was elected a Bencher of Middle Temple in 2005. She has been extensively involved with the European Commission's TAIEX programme to foster knowledge of EU law in the ten newest Member States. She is currently joint head (with Michael Pooles QC) of Hailsham Chambers.

On the academic side, in 1990 she launched the post of Director of European Legal Studies in the Faculty of Laws at University College London. In 1992 she moved to Cambridge to a University Lectureship, and returned to King's College as the Fellow in Law. In 1998, she resigned her University Lectureship in Cambridge in order to devote more time to her practice at the Bar, but retained her university links by becoming Affiliated Lecturer teaching specialist EU topics. She has continued to teach at King's College, where she is now the senior Fellow in Law.

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