Sir Paul Maguire QC

The Queen has been pleased to approve that the honour of Knighthood be conferred upon Paul Richard Maguire Esq, QC, on his appointment as a Justice of the High Court in Northern Ireland.

The Hon Mr Justice Maguire was called to the Bar in 1978 and became Queen’s Counsel in 2006.

He was elected to Belfast City Council for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland in 1981; then elected at the Northern Ireland Assembly election, 1982 for North Belfast.

He stood for the party in the Westminster constituency of North Belfast at the 1983 general election, taking 9.1% of the vote, then again at the Belfast North by-election, 1986, when he increased his vote share to 16.7%.

In the mid-1980s, he left politics and focused on his legal career, rising to become Queen's Counsel by the 2000s, and representing the Government in a number of high-profile cases.

In 2010, he was appointed to head an inquiry into Peter Robinson's knowledge of his wife's improper financial affairs.

He is also a member of the human rights advisory committee of the Bar Council.