2008
Lord Saville of Newdigate
Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the Bar, the legal profession and the Judiciary.
Having read Law at Oxford, Mark Saville was called to the Bar in 1962. He became Queen's Counsel in 1975 and a Bencher of his Inn in 1983. Two years later he was appointed a Judge of the High Court and became a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1994.
Between 1994 and 1996, he chaired a Committee of the Department of Trade and Industry concerned with arbitration legislation. The committee's work resulted in the introduction of the Arbitration Act 1996, aimed at obtaining the fair resolution of disputes by impartial tribunal.
Becoming a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 1997, Lord Saville was appointed a year later to chair the Inquiry into the events of 30 January 1972 in Londonderry, when a number of civilians were shot by soldiers during a civil rights march. Set up to establish a definitive version of what happened on Bloody Sunday, the Inquiry has proved to be the largest investigation in British legal history.
Lord Saville is renowned not only for his eminence, intelligence and perception as a lawyer but also for his role as a true moderniser of the legal profession. He served for several years as a member of the Advisory Board for Nottingham Law School's Centre of Advanced Litigation and his work in the field of dispute resolution has been immensely influential in shaping the School's teaching and research.