Obi has been a deputy High Court judge since 2018
The UK High Court has appointed Margaret Obi, who was the first-ever Service Police Complaints Commissioner, as a judge, reported the Law Society Gazette.
Obi will join the King's Bench Division. She has been a deputy High Court judge since 2018.
In 2023, she was named an acting judge of the Supreme Court of the British Indian Ocean Territory. She presided over the case involving the detention of Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers on the island of Diego Garcia, ruling that the asylum seekers were unlawfully detained. In February of the same year, she was appointed the Service Police Complaints Commissioner for the UK Ministry of Defence.
In 2024, Obi was named a judge of the upper tribunal (immigration and asylum chamber). She was also appointed Competition Appeal Tribunal chair.
She qualified as a solicitor focusing on criminal defense in 1998. She practised with Powell Spencer and Partners for over 20 years per LinkedIn, making partner in 2002. Her private practice work focused on serious crime cases like murder, manslaughter, serious sexual assault and terrorism offences
Obi transitioned from private practice to an independent legal consultant role. She has served as a special adviser to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, defending war crimes allegations. She has also been a trustee/director at Appeal, the charity and law practice concentrating on miscarriages of justice and championing the reform of the UK’s criminal justice system.
She has been deputy chair of the regulatory decisions committee and enforcement decisions committee at the UK Financial Conduct Authority since 2023. She is also on the Law Society of England and Wales’ women solicitors network committee.
Obi works with Independent Legal Assessors and is on the determinations panel of The Pensions Regulator.
The Law Society noted that seven High Court judges in post on April 1 were solicitors, while 100 were barristers.
