The Attorney General has described it as a “great honour” to be confirmed as the Island’s new Deputy Bailiff this morning.
Mark Howard Temple KC’s appointment was announced by Bailiff Delegate Robert MacRae in the States Assembly this morning, and he is due to take up the role – the second-highest legal office in Jersey – in early 2026.
The current Deputy Bailiff, Robert MacRae, is set to become Bailiff at the end of this week – as Bailiff Sir Timothy Le Cocq retires.
Future Bailiffs typically follow a set path, becoming Solicitor General, then Attorney General and Deputy Bailiff before they ascend to the position of Bailiff.
Following a long line of Attorneys General before him, Mr Temple was widely expected to be confirmed in the role of Deputy Bailiff.
As part of the process, he was formally recommended by the UK’s Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, and the King then approved his appointment.
The new DB’s CV
Mark Temple KC was educated at Roehampton Church School, King’s College School in London and Cambridge University.
After qualifying as an English Solicitor in 1994, he later became a Solicitor Advocate of the High Court of England and Wales in 2002.
Mr Temple then moved to Jersey in 2003 and qualified as a Jersey Advocate in 2005, going on to practise as a partner in private practice in Jersey from 2007 to 2015. He specialised in litigation and dispute resolution.
He left private practice in 2015 and became Queen’s Counsel, and served as Her Majesty’s Solicitor General for the Island of Jersey from August 2015.
Mr Temple was then sworn in as Her Majesty’s Attorney General on 9 March 2020.
Mr Temple will officially take up the post of Deputy Bailiff in early 2026.
A “great honour”
Mr Temple described it as a “great honour to have the opportunity to serve the Island as Deputy Bailiff of Jersey”.
“I look forward to supporting the work of the Bailiff and the Bailiff’s Chambers, to working with the Jurats of the Royal Court, States Members, and the Judicial and States Greffe,” he said.
Paying tribute to those who had come before, he added: “I am conscious of the high standards set by my predecessors which I will endeavour to uphold.”
Mr MacRae said he was “delighted” to have announced Mr Temple as his successor in the States Assembly this morning.
“Mr Temple has served the Island as a Law Officer for ten years and I have every confidence that his experience and attributes will serve him well as a judge of the Royal Court and a presiding officer of the States Assembly.”
Mr MacRae will be sworn in as Bailiff in a Royal Court ceremony on Friday.