Alistair MacDonald QC, a barrister at Birmingham’s St Philips Chambers, has been appointed as a High Court Judge assigned to the Family Division.

Mr MacDonald will take the customary oath of allegiance and the judicial oath at a swearing-in ceremony before the Lord Chief Justice on June 3 at the Royal Courts of Justice.

A stalwart of the Birmingham Family Bar, Mr MacDonald was called in 1995 and began his career at Priory Chambers, 2 Fountain Court where he was pupilled to the late David Hershman QC.

Following the merger with 7 Fountain Court to form St Philips Chambers in 1998, Mr MacDonald became a Recorder sitting in the Family Court in 2009 before taking Silk in 2011 aged 41.

Author of The Rights of the Child – Law and Practice, a book described as “probably the foremost chronicle of children’s rights in practice”, Mr MacDonald is also a contributing author for the Family Court Practice, a member of the editorial board of the academic journal Child and Family Law Quarterly and the general editor of Clarke Hall & Morrison on Children.

A spokesman for St Philips Chambers said: “St Philips are extremely proud of his elevation and wish Alistair every success in his new role.”