The Expert Witness Institute is delighted to announce that Lady Simler, Justice of the Supreme Court, was appointed as President of the Institute on 15th October 2025.
Lady Simler was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1987, having read law at Cambridge University, and completed a post-graduate diploma in EU law at the Europa Institute, University of Amsterdam. She practised at the Bar at Devereux Chambers where she became Head of Chambers before becoming a judge. During her time at Devereux she was a member of the Attorney General's Civil Panel A and was Junior Counsel to the Inland Revenue (Common Law) between 2002 and her appointment to silk in 2006.
She became a Judge of the High Court King's Bench Division in October 2013. In January 2015 she was appointed President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal for a three-year term which ended on 31 December 2018.
Having served as High Court Liaison Judge for Diversity she was appointed chair of the Diversity Committee of the Judges' Council in 2019. She also served as a member of the Civil Executive Team chaired by the Deputy Head of Civil Justice, reporting to the Master of the Rolls. She was sworn in as a Lady Justice of the Court of Appeal in June 2019. She was appointed as a Justice of the Supreme Court in November 2023.
Lady Simler succeeds The Right Hon Lord Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court who became president in 2020 and stepped down as he is due to retire from the Supreme Court at the end of the year.
EWI Chair, Sir Martin Spencer, said “We are thrilled to welcome Lady Simler as our new President. She has already demonstrated a strong interest in the role of experts, expert evidence and the work of the Institute. We look forward to working with her and bringing her strategic insight to the organisation and membership.”
Lady Simler said “It is a pleasure and a privilege to have been asked to take over from Lord Hodge as president of the Expert Witness Institute. There is a strong public interest in the work performed by experts and the justice system depends on expert evidence being both impartial and of the highest quality it can be. The EWI has an important role to play in supporting this and I look forward to working with the EWI and taking forward the excellent work done by my predecessor, Lord Hodge.”
Lady Simler also gave a fascinating talk on enhancing expert evidence. You can read the write up and find out more here.