HM GOVERNMENT OF GIBRALTAR
PRESS RELEASE No: 99/2014
Date: 3rd March 2014
Attorney General elected as Overseas Bencher of Inner Temple
Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar congratulates the Attorney General, the Hon Ricky Rhoda QC, on being elected as an Overseas Bencher of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. This is the greatest honour that the Inner Temple can bestow on an overseas member who has attained distinction in legal and public life within his/her home jurisdiction.
‘This is great news – of course, for Mr Rhoda himself but also for all of Gibraltar’s legal profession,’ said the Chief Minister.
A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales. Election is for life but, once retired from practice or from sitting as a judge, a bencher is accorded “emeritus” status, which carries all the privileges of being a bencher but without the right to vote in Council.
‘I am obviously very pleased by this news, not only for myself but also for Chambers,’ said Mr Rhoda.
The Inner Temple is one of the four “Inns of the Court” that are the professional governing bodies of Barristers in the UK, the others being Middle Temple, Lincolns Inn and Grays Inn.