The Rolls Building Art and Education Trust ( RBAET )
Chairman Emeritus
Geoffrey Bond OBE DL LLD FSA
Chair
Sue Hoyle OBE
Directors and Trustees
The Rt Hon Sir Colin Birss
The Hon Dame Sara Cockerill DBE
The Rt Hon Sir Julian Flaux PC
The Rt Hon Sir Christopher Floyd
The Rt Hon Dame Elizabeth Gloster DBE
The Hon Dame Nerys Jefford DBE
The Hon Sir Richard Meade
Stephen Fash MA
Bruce Harris FCIArb
Graham Huntley BA
Simon Readhead KC
Secretary
Stephen Fash MA
Honorary Treasurer
Michael Cooper MA FCA
Biographical notes:
Geoffrey Bond, who is a retired lawyer with a longstanding and wide-ranging interest in the arts and heritage, stood down as Chair of the Rolls Building Art & Education Trust on 30 November 2023. Geoffrey was the founding inspiration in setting up the Trust and setting its dual mission of bringing art works to the public spaces of the new Rolls Building and developing an educational programme for young people who may never have considered that a career in law was open to them. Geoffrey led the Trust with distinction through its first 12 years of operation so that it now supports a thriving and ever-developing programme of education, art and exhibition activity.
Sue Hoyle has held a range of executive, non-executive and advisory roles across the arts including leadership positions in the field of Dance at Arts Council England and The Place (Contemporary Dance Trust). From 2003 to 2017 she was Deputy Director and then Director of Clore Leadership, heading up its Leadership programme for arts, libraries, museums, heritage and film. She is a Trustee of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation and has been a Lay Commissioner for the Judicial Appointments Commission since 2019. She is an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple Inn.
Sir Christopher Floyd and Dame Elizabeth Gloster were founding judicial members of the RBAET. They were appointed to the Court of Appeal in May 2013. Dame Elizabeth has since retired from the Court of Appeal but continues to serve as a Trustee. Sir Richard Meade, Dame Sara Cockerill and Dame Nerys Jefford represent each of the jurisdictions that sit at the Rolls Building – the Chancery Division, the Admiralty and Commercial Court and the Technology & Construction Court (TCC). Sir Colin Birss developed the Intellectual Property case study for the RBAET educational programme and conducts Q&A sessions for students attending the programme. A TCC case study has been developed with input from Dame Nerys. Sir Colin was appointed to the Court of Appeal in January 2021. Sir Julian Flaux was appointed as a Director and Trustee in February 2016; he was Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court from July 2014 to December 2015 and was appointed to the Court of Appeal in December 2016. Sir Julian was appointed Chancellor of the High Court in February 2021
Bruce Harris has been a commercial and maritime arbitrator for over 30 years, and has been Chairman of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators as well as President of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association. Bruce has developed a case study for the RBAET educational programme based on a shipping arbitration. He attends the reenactments as a “witness” and conducts Q&A sessions with the student participants.
Graham Huntley was a founding partner of Signature Litigation in 2012. He was previously a partner in a major international law firm and has some 40 years’ experience in commercial litigation. Graham is a past Trustee and President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and has served as a member of several judicial and professional working parties including the Commercial Court Users’ Group. Graham has a long-standing commitment to pro-bono work, having served as International Pro-Bono Partner for ten years at his previous firm. He is a Director of the London Legal Support Trust as well as Chairman of the Capital Cases Charitable Trust.
Simon Readhead KC is a trustee of the Permanent Exhibition of Judicial and Legal Costume in the Royal Courts of Justice and is involved with a number of legal education programmes which encourage and support academically able students from non-privileged backgrounds who are interested in a career in the law.
Stephen Fash retired from Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service in December 2011. He was Director of the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice from 2007 – 2011. In that capacity he was instrumental in establishing the RBAET and has served as its Secretary since its inception. He was appointed as a Director and Trustee in October 2014. He is a Panel Chair for the Judicial Appointments Commission and an Independent Review Panel Chair (Continuing Healthcare funding) for NHS England, London.