One of Northern Ireland's leading civil lawyers was appointed a judge of the High Court in Belfast yesterday. Mr John Gillen QC, who fills a vacancy created by the retirement of Lord Justice MacDermott, was sworn in at a private ceremony before the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Robert Carswell.
The new judge was educated at Cregagh Primary School and Methodist College, Belfast, and the Queen's College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar in 1970 and took silk in 1983. He acted as a deputy county court judge and was a member of the executive council of the Bar Council.
Mr Justice Gillen (51) and his wife, Claire, have two daughters - Susan, a student at St Andrew's University, Scotland, and Germaine, who attends Methodist College.