Lord Charles Falconer

Charlie Falconer is an English qualified barrister and partner based in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s London office.  The former UK Lord Chancellor and first Secretary of State for Justice spent 25 years as a commercial barrister, becoming a QC in 1991. 

In 1997 he joined the Blair government as Solicitor-General, moving a year later to the Cabinet Office, becoming involved in all the critical issues which faced the government from 1998 until the 2001 election.

In 2001, after the general election, he became Housing, Planning and Regeneration Minister and in 2002 he became Criminal Justice Minister.  In both these jobs he was engaged in leading genuine public service reform, for example in relation to the planning system and the criminal justice system.

In 2003 he became Lord Chancellor.  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.

In 2007 he became the first Secretary of State for Justice bringing together courts, prisons and justice policy for the first time.