The third new Justice to be sworn in since the Court opened in 2009, he will soon be joined by two others.

Lord Reed – currently a judge at the Court of Session, Scotland’s senior civil court – has been selected to replace the late Lord Rodger, who was also Scottish. Lord Reed serves as an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights, and as an acting Justice of the Supreme Court. He will be sworn in on 6 February.

Lord Justice Carnwath has been selected to take over from Lord Brown, who is due to retire in April 2012. Carnwath LJ has been a Lord Justice of Appeal since 2002, prior to which he was a judge of the Chancery Division. He was appointed the first senior President of Tribunals in 2007. From 1988 to 1994 he was Attorney General to the Prince of Wales and was chair of the Law Commission between 1998 and 2002.

Outside the law his main interest is music which he described when he appeared on radio’s Private Passions. He sings in the Bach Choir and from 2001 to 2009 he was Chairman of the Britten-Pears Foundation. Carnwath LJ is expected to be sworn in during the first week of the Easter Term.

Lord Phillips, President of the Supreme Court, said: “As I near the end of my time as President of this court, it is encouraging to be welcoming colleagues of such high calibre and I am only sorry I will not have longer to work alongside them.”