Master Orde was a former army officer and Crown Court judge. After serving in the Army from 1950 to 1952 he continued in the Territorial Army from 1952 to 1964, becoming a Captain in 1958. He was called to the Bar in 1956 and was awarded the Profumo Prize in 1959. He served as a Deputy High Court Judge (Civil) from 1983 to 2005 and as resident Judge at Durham Crown Court from 1986 to 2001. He chaired the Criminal Justice Liaison Committee for Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and Durham (1995–2000) and the Criminal Justice Strategy Committee for Durham County (2000–01) and served as President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal for Restricted Cases from 2001 to 2005. Master Orde authored Nelson’s Mediterranean Command (1997, repr. 2014) and In the Shadow of Nelson: The Life of Admiral Lord Collingwood (2008, repr. 2019). He contributed to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Master Orde's article, Nelson goes to Law, can be read in the 2014-2015 edition of the Yearbook. 

Master Orde was elected a Bencher of the Inn in 1998.  He is survived by his daughters Georgina and Philippa.

The Inn's flag will fly at half-mast in his memory on Friday 10 January 2025.