April 7, 2020
Lord Charles Falconer has been appointed as Shadow Attorney General by Keir Starmer, leader of the UK Labour Party. In British parliamentary practice, the Official Opposition Shadow Cabinet consists of senior members of the opposition party who scrutinise their corresponding government ministers, develop alternative policies, and hold the government to account for its actions and responses. The Shadow Cabinet was announced on April 6, 2020.
Charles Falconer focuses on complex commercial litigation, international arbitration and investigations. He spent 25 years as a commercial barrister, becoming a QC in 1991. He served in the Blair government as Lord Chancellor and in conjunction with the then Lord Chief Justice, he worked out a detailed new relationship between the judiciary and the executive, which was embodied in the Constitutional Reform Act 2005. He became the first Secretary of State for Justice in 2007, bringing together courts, prisons and justice policy for the first time.