Chief Justice
The Rt. Hon. The Lord Burnett of Maldon
Chief Justice, AIFC Court
Lord Burnett was the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2017 until 30 September 2023. He studied law at Pembroke College, Oxford University, and was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1980. He practiced as a barrister and was head of a barrister chambers in London, UK, from 2003. He was Junior Counsel to the UK Crown from 1992 and was appointed a Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 1998. He had a wide common law practice at the Bar of England and Wales with a particular focus on public and administrative law including public inquiries and high profile inquests. His final case at the Bar was as counsel to the inquests into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al Fayed.
He was appointed a Judge of the High Court of England and Wales in 2008, and was presiding Judge of the Western Circuit from 2011 until 2014. He was appointed to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in 2014. He was Vice Chairman of the independent UK Judicial Appointments Commission from 2015 until 2017. In July 2017, at the age of 59, he was the youngest Lord Chief Justice to be appointed since 1958. As Lord Chief Justice, Lord Burnett was President of all the Courts of England and Wales. He presided over civil and criminal appeals in the Court of Appeal, sat in the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and continues to sit from time to time in the Supreme Court.
Justices
Registrar & Chief Executive
Mr. Christopher Campbell-Holt
Registrar and Chief Executive, AIFC Court
Mr. Campbell-Holt is the Registrar and Chief Executive of the AIFC Court. He is also Enforcement Judge of the AIFC Court. He is responsible for the day to day management and administration of the Court and case management of litigation before the Court to the extent delegated or directed by the Chief Justice. As Enforcement Judge he is responsible for issuing execution orders of Court judgments and orders.
He managed the establishment of the AIFC Court and IAC from initial concept to recognised stand-alone premier international dispute resolution institutions in Eurasia. He is a member of the AIFC Legal Advisory Council, which reviews and approves AIFC law modelled on the common law. He is a member of the Working Group on Judicial and Legal Reforms of the Supreme Council of Reforms of the Office of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He is a member of the International Council of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan, which advises on reform of the Kazakh courts and dispute resolution. He is a member of the AIFC Legal Services Board, which regulates legal services provided by lawyers in the AIFC. He is an Honorary Professor at KAZGUU University, Kazakhstan, and a member of the AIFC Academic Council and Advisory Board of the AIFC Academy of Law, which advise the AIFC Bureau for Continuing Professional Development and AIFC Academy of Law.
He has 20 years of international legal experience gained while living and working in the UK, US, Middle East and Central Asia. He was the Registrar at an international financial centre commercial court and alternative dispute resolution centre in Qatar under the Presidency of Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. He also worked at the international law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, in London, UK, and at a Middle East law firm partnered with the international law firm Covington and Burling LLP, in Doha, Qatar. He has advised many Governments and organisations on common law and dispute resolution institutions development including in the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and South America.
He was educated at University College London, where he read the LLB in Law and graduated in 2003. He is admitted to the Bar of New York State. He is a CEDR accredited mediator and has many years of mediator experience. He has Member status at the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is a life time member of the Chartered Institute of Directors and he is a board member of various institutions including the Board of Governors of De Montfort University Kazakhstan.
In 2022 he was awarded The Order of Friendship (Dostyq ordeni) by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. This is the highest level state award of the Republic of Kazakhstan that can be awarded to non-Kazakh citizens. It is awarded to individuals for the "promotion of international and civil consensus in society and the promotion of peace, friendship and cooperation between peoples".
In 2020 he was awarded “The Jubilee Medal” by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for his “significant contribution to the formation of statehood, strengthening of sovereignty and socio-economic development of the Republic of Kazakhstan”. In 2021 he was awarded “The Medal of the Chief Justice of the Republic of Kazakhstan”, by Chairman Z. Assanov, for his "contribution to the development of international cooperation".
Registry