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Andrew McFarlane was called to the Bar in 1977 and practised in chambers in Birmingham until 1993 when he moved to specialist family law chambers in London.
He appeared at all levels of court including the House of Lords and the European Court of Human Rights. He was appointed as a QC in 1998. In April 2005 he was appointed to the High Court, Family Division and was, for five years, the Family Division Liaison Judge for the Midland Circuit. He was the legal member of the Government ‘Family Justice Review’ Panel.
In July 2011 he was appointed to be a Lord Justice of Appeal sitting full time in the Court of Appeal in London. On 28 July 2018 Sir Andrew succeeded Sir James Munby as President of the Family Division and Head of Family Justice.
Together with the late David Hershman he is the co-author of a loose-leaf legal text-book entitled Children: Law and Practice. In addition, he has contributed to other publications and lectured throughout the UK and abroad.
Sir Andrew has been a trustee of YoungMinds (the national young person’s mental health charity) and is Patron of HOPE Family Centre (Bromyard).
In addition to being Chancellor of the Diocese of Exeter, Sir Andrew was Chair of the Church of England Clergy Discipline Commission and President of Clergy Discipline Tribunals for five years until 2019.
He has been a native of Herefordshire and Worcestershire for over 20 years.