Sir Gary Hickinbottom Appointed as British Wrestling’s Independent Judicial Chair

We are delighted to announce that Sir Gary Hickinbottom has been appointed British Wrestling’s independent Judicial Chair as from 1 January 2023.

Sir Gary Hickinbottom is a solicitor, who practised in commercial and public law until 2000, when he was made a full-time judge. He was appointed to a succession of judicial appointments in both the court and tribunal systems including Designated Civil Judge for Wales and Deputy Senior President of Tribunals, before being made a High Court Judge and a Judge of the Court of Appeal. He has been appointed President of Welsh Tribunals from April 2023.

In each of these posts, he has spent a substantial amount of his time on public law claims of all types including claims involving governance, and regulatory and disciplinary decisions. This judicial work has included sport-orientated disputes in respect of a wide range of sports and subjects. His experience also includes setting up and managing a variety of tribunals.

He retired as a Court of Appeal Judge in 2021 to conduct a Commission of Inquiry into corruption and governance in the British Virgin Islands, which he concluded earlier this year.

Gary has been a registered mediator since 1991 and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators since 1995. He is a member of several sport dispute resolution panels including the FA Safeguarding Panel, and the Sports Resolutions Arbitrators’ Panel and National Safeguarding Panel regularly chairing hearings relating to a wide variety of sports.

Announcement in full on the British Westling website can be viewed here