Lord Saville of Newdigate, who was yesterday appointed chairman of the tribunal, is regarded as a media-friendly and enlightened judge.
He was appointed a Law Lord last year after rising swiftly through the ranks of the judiciary, sitting as a judge in the High Court in 1985, before becoming a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1994.
He gained his reputation as a "modern" judge through his work on a variety of initiatives, including the Judith project, designed to encourage judges to use computers to communicate with each other.
Last year, he was one of three appeal court judges who issued the first Court of Appeal ruling on the Internet. He said the decision would speed up the judicial process.
Mark Oliver Saville (61) is married with two sons and was educated at Rye Grammar School, Sussex, and at Brasenose College, Oxford. He read law at Oxford and gained a first-class degree. Before his legal career, Lord Saville served as a second lieutenant in the Royal Sussex Regiment from 1954 to 1956.
He was called to the bar in 1962 and became a queen's counsel in 1975.
Lord Saville has chaired several high-profile projects. Between 1994 and 1996, he chaired a committee of the Department of Trade and Industry dealing with sensitive arbitration issues which led to the Arbitration Act 1996. He is the current chairman of the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct.
The two other members of the tribunal have yet to be confirmed by the British government.
Lord Widgery, who conducted the original inquiry, died in 1981.