Rt Hon Sir Robert Buckland KBE KC enjoys a distinguished career in law and public life. He is Senior Counsel & Head of Policy at Payne Hicks Beach LLP, a practising barrister at Foundry Chambers and is a member of the DAC Beachcroft Policy Unit. He is the Third Church Estates Commissioner, having responsibility for Cathedrals and major Church of England buildings, Net Zero and Parish governance arrangements. He is a Visiting Professor in Practice at LSE School of Law. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Sir Robert entered the Commons as Conservative MP for South Swindon in 2010, and during his fourteen years in Parliament, Robert served in the Conservative Governments of four Prime Ministers, becoming Solicitor General in 2014, Minister of State for Justice in 2019 and then entering the Cabinet as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from 2019 to 2021. He returned to Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales in 2022 and Chaired the Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Select Committee from 2023-24. As an influential backbencher, Robert was Secretary of the 1922 Committee from 2012-14 and was Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism. He most recently chaired an independent review into autism and employment, which culminated in a report published last year. Robert campaigns on disability issues, domestic abuse and criminal law reform. Prior to his election as an MP, Robert was a criminal barrister for nearly twenty years and a member of the Attorney General’s Prosecuting List. He was appointed a Crown Court Recorder in 2009 and took Silk in 2014. Sir Robert writes and lectures regularly on constitutional law matters, current affairs and political history, collaborating on several books on these issues. He was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire by Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2021 and was knighted by His Majesty The King in 2022. He was a Senior Fellow at the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard Kennedy School from 2023-25. He is a Bencher of Inner Temple and a Freeman of the City of London.