Sir Michael John Fordham, (born 21 December 1964), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Fordham, is a judge of the High Court of England and Wales assigned to the King's Bench Division. He was appointed as a Justice of the High Court on 13 January 2020.
Fordham was educated at Spalding Grammar School between 1976 and 1983. He went on to study law at Hertford College, Oxford having been awarded a place through the Tanner Scheme. After achieving a First class degree, he stayed on at Oxford until 1987 to undertake a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL). In 1988 he obtained a Master of Laws (LLM) at the University of Virginia.
Fordham was called to the bar in 1990 by Gray's Inn, and by 2006 had been appointed a Queen's Counsel. Four years later he became a Civil Recorder, and in 2012, a Criminal Recorder. He was appointed Deputy Judge of the Upper Tribunal, sitting for six years until 2018. He was authorised under s9(1) to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2013.
During his career as a barrister spanning 1990 to 2020, he specialised (inter alia) in public law, administrative law, immigration and asylum, health and human rights, arguing more than 50 cases in the House of Lords and the Supreme Court.
Fordham is a Bencher of Gray's Inn where he formerly served as Master of Students.
The following are among the cases argued by Fordham during his career as a barrister:
As a legal practitioner specialising in judicial review, Fordham has authored seven editions of his Judicial Review Handbook. In the foreword to the 5th Edition, Lord Woolf paid tribute to the author, saying that the handbook was "an institution for those who practise public law".