Introduction
Following a comprehensive review in 2012, a new governance system and structures were put in place in January 2014 to ensure that:
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Introduction
Parliament is the Inn’s sovereign body and ultimate authority, responsible for the oversight of the Inn’s governance, legislation and elections. All Ordinary Benchers are members of the Inn’s Parliament. More specifically, its role is focused on:
Introduction
The Executive Committee is the Inn’s primary Committee, to which Parliament delegates authority for oversight of the business affairs of the Inn and for the development of Inn-wide strategy and policy. Its membership is approved by Parliament, and it is accountable to Parliament. Its role is to ensure that the Inn’s executive management is operating effectively and efficiently in the Inn’s interests. In greater detail:
As a result of the Governance Review, a new committee structure came into effect on 1 January 2019. The Inn’s sovereign body continues to be Parliament – the governing body of Benchers of the Inn - but Parliament is supported by Standing Committees, all of which are clearly focused on the Inn’s core purposes, and constituted such that we are able to set our priorities and future direction to achieve them.
The main Standing Committee is the Executive Committee.
Reporting to Parliament through the Executive Committee there are five Standing Committees:
Benchers are elected by Parliament each year to non-executive offices of the Inn through which they provide Bench-level oversight of the Inn’s affairs.
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2025 Officers of the Inn |
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Treasurer |
The Rt Hon Lady Justice Thirlwall DBE |
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Deputy Treasurer: |
Bernard Richmond KC |
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Deputy Treasurer Elect: | |
| 2024 | Paul Darling OBE KC
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2023 |
The Rt Hon Lord David Lloyd-Jones
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2022 |
The Hon Mrs Justice Maura McGowan |
The executive management team of Middle Temple Inn is responsible for the day-to-day management and operation of the Inn. The team is led by the Chief Executive and Under Treasurer, Sir Christopher Ghika KCVO CBE. The executive management team is a highly experienced and qualified group of individuals with a wide range of skills and expertise. They are all committed to the Middle Temple Inn's mission of providing a world-class legal education and training, and to supporting its members throughout their careers.
The earliest surviving records of the qualifications required of those who would follow the profession of Advocate, date from the late 13th century. In 1275 the Speculum Juris was published; this set out the qualifications required. The City's Liber Custumarum of 1280 contains the standards and rules of the profession, which was already divided into attorneys (presently solicitors) and countors (or apprentices at law, the title barrister being of later date and reflecting strictly the man's status in his Inn). An attorney had to be admitted by the Mayor before practising in the City.
The earliest known reference to Middle Temple occurs in the Year Book 12 Richard II (1388), which records the appointment of ‘Willelmus Hankforde medii templi’ as a Serjeant at Law. The same record also refers to Serjeants appointed from Gray's Inn and Inner Temple.
The Middle Temple’s earliest surviving records of its governing body, or Parliament, date back to 1501 and are held in the archive. Lincoln's Inn’s records go back even earlier, to 1422, when its Black Books recording the proceedings of its Bench begin. An entry for 1442 refers to a payment for a wine party (pro potacione) with the Middle Temple. As the Inn had been in existence for about a century and a half, its first extant records reflect what was already a mature and well-established Society.