The Rt Hon Dame Philippa Whipple

DBE KC
Honorary Fellow

The Rt Hon Dame Philippa Whipple DBE is a Lady Justice of the Court of Appeal, having previously served as a Presiding Judge on the South Eastern Circuit from 2018 to 2021, and as a commissioner at the Judicial Appointments Commission from 2017 to 2019.

Philippa Whipple (née Edwards) came to Merton in 1984 to study law. After graduating in 1987, she went to law school. She got a training contract in a London city law firm, qualifying as a solicitor, and spent some years in that firm’s tax department. She left in 1994 to become a barrister and practised at the Bar for the next two decades, specialising in judicial review, public inquiries, medical law and tax.

In 2005, she was appointed a Recorder, or part-time circuit judge; she was appointed a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 2010; became a Deputy High Court Judge in 2013; and was appointed a full-time High Court Judge in the Queen’s Bench Division in October 2015. The following month, she received her DBE.