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Sir Thomas Scott Gillespie Baker,PC (born 10 December 1937) is a retiredEnglishCourt of Appeal judge. Scott Baker is the eldest son ofSir George Baker, a formerHigh Court judge who wasPresident of the Family Division from 1971 to 1979. One of his brothers, Judge Michael Baker, KC, was the Residentjudge atSt Albans Crown Court.
Scott Baker was educated atHaileybury & Imperial Service College, and studied atBrasenose College, Oxford. He was a member ofChorleywood Urban District Council from 1964 to 1967. He married Margaret Joy Baker on 10 February 1973. The couple has two sons and one daughter.
He wascalled to the bar at theMiddle Temple in 1961, and practised in a range of legal areas, including family finance cases, and professionalnegligence. He became arecorder in 1976, and was appointed aQueen's Counsel in 1978. He became aBencher at Middle Temple in 1985. He was a member of the Committee that inquired into human fertilisation in 1982 to 1984, chaired byMary Warnock, which led to theHuman Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.
He was appointed as aHigh Court judge in 1988 (and was styledMr Justice Scott Baker), receiving the customaryknighthood, and allocated to theFamily Division. He moved to theQueen's Bench Division in 1993.
He was Presiding Judge of theWales and Chester Circuit from 1991 to 1995, and a member of theParole Board from 1999 to 2002. He was the Lead Judge of theAdministrative Court from 2000 to 2002. In 1999, he presided over the trial ofGreat Western Trains following theSouthall rail crash in 1997.
He dismissed charges ofcorporate manslaughter, as there was no identifiable individual in the company who was also guilty ofgross negligence, but levied a then-record fine forhealth and safety offences of £1.5m. His judgment was upheld on appeal. The same year, Baker presided at the trial ofJonathan Aitken on charges ofperjury following the collapse of Aitken'slibel suit againstThe Guardian.
Baker was promoted in 2002, becoming aLord Justice of Appeal. He was Treasurer of hisInns of Court, the Middle Temple, in 2004. He sat ascoroner for theinquests into thedeaths of Princess Diana andDodi Fayed from 2 October 2007 to 7 April 2008.
In March 2011, Baker was sworn in as a Justice of theCourt of Appeal of Bermuda, a position that he held until 2018.
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