Lord Hoffmann
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The Right Honourable The Lord Hoffmann PC |
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|---|---|
Lord Hoffmann speaking at a conference in Singapore in 2016
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| Second Senior Lord of Appeal in Ordinary | |
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In office 2007 – 21 April 2009 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | The Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Hope of Craighead |
| Lord of Appeal in Ordinary | |
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In office 21 February 1995 – 21 April 2009 |
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| Succeeded by | The Lord Collins of Mapesbury |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Leonard Hubert Hoffmann 8 May 1934 Cape Town, South Africa |
| Nationality |
 United Kingdom
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| Spouse(s) | Gillian Hoffmann |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater |
University of Cape Town The Queen's College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Jurist |
| Religion | Judaism |
Leonard Hubert Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann, PC (born 8 May 1934) is a retired senior British judge. He served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1995 to 2009.
Well known for his lively decisions and willingness to break with convention, he has had an especially large impact on shareholder actions in UK company law, in restricting tort liability for public authorities, human rights and on intellectual property law, in particular patents. He is also a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong.
Born 8 May 1934 in Cape Town, Leonard Hubert Hoffmann, nicknamed "Lennie", was the son of a well-known solicitor who co-founded what has become Africa's largest law firm, Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs.
He was educated at the University of Cape Town and then attended The Queen's College, Oxford, as a Rhodes scholar, where he studied for the BCL degree and won the Vinerian Scholarship. Between 1961 and 1973, he was Stowell Civil Law Fellow at University College, Oxford, where he is also an Honorary Fellow.
In 1963, he published the first edition of The South African Law of Evidence, a work which became the standard text and which has since been published in four editions. After being called to the Bar from Gray's Inn in 1964, Hoffmann became one of the most sought after and highly priced barristers of his generation and was quickly made a judge, having taken silk on 19 April 1977.
He was appointed to the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey on 20 November 1980 and stayed in office until 1985 and was appointed to the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division from 1985 to 1992. On 23 July 1985, he was knighted upon his appointment, as is customary for High Court judges. He was subsequently appointed to be a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1 October 1992 and stayed in office until 1995. In 1995, Hoffmann was appointed a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary (more commonly known as a Law Lord) and thereby raised to the peerage as Baron Hoffmann, of Chedworth in the County of Gloucestershire.
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