Our People

Mr Justice Michael Soole is the Treasurer of The Inner Temple in 2024. He has been a High Court Judge (King's Bench Division) since November 2015, hearing a wide range of civil and criminal cases. In January 2022, Mr Justice Soole was appointed as Judge in Charge of the King's Bench Division Civil List.

 

Before his judicial appointment, Mr Justice Soole was a barrister for 37 years, being called to the Bar by The Inner Temple in 1977 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 2002. His practice included a specialisation in professional negligence and construction law. He was Chair of TECBAR (the Technology and Construction Bar Association) and a member of the Bar Council.

 

Appointed as a Governing Bencher in 2008, Mr Justice Soole served on the Advocacy Training Committee (Chair, 2012-14), the Library Committee (Vice Chair, 2016-2018), the Education & Training Committee, the Scholarships Committee, the Outreach Committee and the Student Societies Committee. He has served on the Executive Committee since 2022.

 

Mr Justice Soole was also a member of the Advocacy Training Council (now Inns of Court College of Advocacy) and has been an advocacy trainer for many years, teaching at home and overseas – including the UN in New York, The Hague, Ghana, Sierra Leone and Mauritius.

Richard Salter KC is a practising barrister, whose chambers are at 3 Verulam Buildings in Gray's Inn. Richard was called to the Bar by The Inner Temple in 1975 and was elected as a Bencher in 1991. He took silk in 1995 and was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court in 2000. He has served on many of the Inn’s committees and was chair of the Scholarships Committee from 2002 to 2009. He was chair of the London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association from 2004-5, a member of the Bar Council from 2004 to 2013, and chair of the Bar Council Legal Services Committee from 2010 to 2013.

 

Richard is a commercial lawyer, specialising in banking and financial law. He has appeared in many of the leading English cases in that area as well as appearing before courts and arbitral tribunals in many other common-law jurisdictions. He was Chambers & Partners Banking and Finance Silk of the Year in 2012.

 

Richard also sits as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Queen's Bench Division and in the Commercial Court, and as an arbitrator under ICC and LCIA rules. Since 2010, Richard has assisted with the teaching of postgraduate courses in financial law at the University of Oxford, where he holds the honorary title of Visiting Professor.

 

Richard has been the consulting editor for the All England Commercial Cases since the series began. A keen amateur pianist and organist, he is a trustee of English Touring Opera, a trustee and chairman of the Comité d'Honneur of Les Azuriales Opera, and honorary counsel to the Worshipful Company of Musicians. From 2011-2017 he was a trustee of the Oxford Law Foundation.

Mr Dorey has had a distinguished career in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, serving at various times as Ambassador to Ethiopia, Djibouti and the African Union; and to Hungary; plus spells as Deputy Head of Mission in Hong Kong and Pakistan. He holds a Masters degree in Modern History from Exeter College, University of Oxford.