Barrister Nkumbe Ekaney, the first Cameroon born Queen’s Counsel, is among the twenty one new deputy high court judges appointed by the Lord Chief Justice for a single fixed four-year term on May 23.
Nkumbe Ekaney is a barrister who spent his formative years in Cameroon and the UK, attending schools in Mankon and Woodcote, near Reading. He was called to the Bar in 1990 and was appointed as the first Cameroonian-born Queen’s Counsel in 2011. Nkumbe specialises exclusively in family law, regularly acting for parents in relationship breakdown cases and in public law for parents, children and local authorities in hearings involving chronic neglect, sexual abuse, serious physical and emotional harm and death of children. He is currently a member of 1 Garden Court Family Law Chambers in London and also practises from Chambers Bristol, Leeds and Manchester where he holds door tenancies.
The deputy high court judge’s recruitment competition is aimed at those with “a serious intent to apply for a salaried appointment in the high court in the near future”.
Appointed for a four-year term, the judges will have to sit for up to 30 days per year, normally in blocks of one or two weeks, and are paid almost 700,000 F CFA a day.
The new judges are:
- Darryl Allen QC, Byrom Street Chambers.
2. Kelyn Bacon QC, Brick Court Chambers.
3. Veronique Buehrlen QC, Keating Chambers.
4. John Cavanagh QC, 11KBW.
5. Rowena Collins Rice QC, Director-General of the Attorney General’s Office.
6. David Edwards QC, 7 King’s Bench Walk.
7. Nkumbe Ekaney QC, 1 Garden Court.
8. Naomi Ellenbogen QC, Littleton Chambers.
9. Andrew Henshaw, Brick Court Chambers.
10. Edwin Johnson QC, Maitland Chambers.
11. Julian Knowles QC, Matrix Chambers.
12. Peter MacdDonald Eggers QC, 7KBW.
13. Nigel Poole QC, Kings Chambers.
14. Pushpinder Saini QC, Blackstone Chambers.
15. Joanna Angela Smith QC, Wilberforce Chambers.
16. David Angus Stone, Allen & Overy.
17. Justine Thornton QC, 39 Essex Chambers.
18. Daniel Toledano QC, One Essex Court.
19. Jonathan Richard Turner QC, Monckton Chambers.
20. Nicholas Vineall QC, 4 Pump Court.
21. Professor Sarah Worthington QC, Cambridge University.
