Rt. Hon Lord Charles Falconer (Lab) - Former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice
Charles Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton PC QC, became the Lord Chancellor in June 2003 and the first Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs. In May 2007 the DCA became the new Ministry of Justice and Lord Falconer became the first Secretary of State for Justice. Following Gordon Brown's accession to the position of Prime Minister, Falconer has left the Government. He then joined US law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher as a senior counsel.
Educated at the Edinburgh Academy, Trinity College, Glenalmond, and Queens' College, Cambridge, Falconer became a flatmate of Tony Blair when they were both young barristers in London in the late 1970s in Wandsworth. He practised from Fountain Court Chambers in London, and becoming a Queen's Counsel in 1991. In May 1997 Falconer was made a life peer and joined the government as Solicitor General. In 1998 he became Minister of State at the Cabinet Office. He became Minister for Housing, Planning and Regeneration after the 2001 election and moved on to the Home Office in 2002.
