{{Short description|English barrister and Queen's Counsel}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Faulks | honorific_suffix = KC | image = Official portrait of Lord Faulks crop 2.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Minister of State for Civil Justice and Legal Policy | term_start = 20 January 2014 | term_end = 19 July 2016 | predecessor = The Lord McNally | successor = ''No appointment'' | prime_minister = David Cameron | office1 = Member of the House of Lords | status1 = Lord Temporal | term_label1 = Life peerage | term_start1 = 21 July 2010 | term_end1 = | party = Unaffiliated (formerly Conservative) | birth_name = Edward Peter Lawless Faulks | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|08|19|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | known_for = | occupation = Barrister | spouse = Catherine Frances Turner | children = 2 | relatives = Sebastian Faulks (brother)<br />Sir Neville Faulks (uncle) }}

'''Edward Peter Lawless Faulks, Baron Faulks''', KC (born 19 August 1950), is an English barrister and unaffiliated life peer who is the current Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Formerly a Conservative peer, he was Minister of State for Justice between December 2013 and July 2016.

==Background and education== Faulks is the son of Peter Ronald Faulks MC, a circuit judge, and Pamela Faulks (''née'' Lawless). The novelist Sebastian Faulks is his younger brother. His uncle was Sir Neville Faulks, a High Court judge.

He was educated at Wellington College and Jesus College, Oxford, where he graduated with an MA and of which he is an honorary fellow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/people/honorary-fellows|title=Honorary Fellows {{!}} Jesus College, University of Oxford|website=www.jesus.ox.ac.uk|language=en|access-date=2017-12-04|archive-date=1 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210601110957/https://www.jesus.ox.ac.uk/people/honorary-fellows|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Career == Faulks was called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1973. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1996, an Assistant Recorder in 1996, and a Recorder in 2000. He became a Bencher of the Middle Temple in 2002.

Faulks was chairman of the Professional Negligence Bar Association from 2002 to 2004, special adviser to the Department for Constitutional Affairs on compensation culture from 2005 to 2006, and head of research for the Society of Conservative Lawyers from 2010 to 2012. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He was a literary agent at Curtis Brown from 1980 to 1981.

In 2010 he was created a life peer as '''Baron Faulks''', of Donnington in the Royal County of Berkshire.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=59497 |date=26 July 2010 |page=14201 }}</ref> In December 2013 it was announced that with effect from 20 January 2014 Faulks would become a Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-changes-december-2013 |title=Ministerial changes: December 2013 |date=18 December 2013 |access-date=19 December 2013}}</ref> He served in this role until July 2016, when he resigned from the government in protest against the appointment of Liz Truss as Secretary of State for Justice by new prime minister Theresa May.<ref>{{cite news |last=Gibb |first=Frances |title=Justice minister quits with blast at 'novice' lord chancellor |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/justice-minister-quits-with-blast-at-novice-lord-chancellor-x99qd8xl5 |date=19 July 2016 |access-date=19 July 2016 |newspaper=The Times |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Lord Faulks was appointed a Justice at the Astana International Financial Centre Court in Astana, Kazakhstan, in 2018.<ref>{{cite news |title=UK judges head new court in Kazakhstan |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/uk-judges-head-new-court-in-kazakhstan-0dkf6c87d |website=The Times|last1=Gibb |first1=Frances }}</ref>

Since January 2020, he has been Chairman of the Independent Press Standards Organisation,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ipso.co.uk/news-press-releases/press-releases/eminent-qc-appointed-as-ipso-chairman/|title=Eminent QC appointed as IPSO Chairman|website=www.ipso.co.uk|access-date=2020-01-09}}</ref> the independent regulator of the majority of newspapers and magazines in the UK.

In July 2020, Faulks was appointed chairman of the Independent Review of Administrative Law. The panel submitted its report in January 2021.

==Other activities== Faulks is a contributing editor to ''Local Authority Liabilities'', 1998, 4th edition 2009. He is on the board of the social enterprise Liberty Kitchen, set up to reduce recidivism at Pentonville Prison.<ref>{{cite web |title=Our Board |url=http://www.libertykitchen.org/people/board/board.html |website=www.libertykitchen.org |access-date=21 June 2019}}</ref>

==Personal life== Lord Faulks married Catherine Frances Turner, daughter of Lindsay Turner and Anthea Cadbury, in 1990. They have two sons. Catherine Faulks is a Conservative councillor on Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council.<ref>{{cite news|title=Lord Feldman's failure to vote leaves Faulks furious|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10080646/Lord-Feldmans-failure-to-vote-leaves-Faulks-furious.html|work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Cllr Catherine Faulks|url=https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/committees/Members/tabid/62/ctl/ViewCMIS_Person/mid/384/id/383/Default.aspx|publisher=RBKC|access-date=1 July 2017|archive-date=4 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304055328/https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/committees/Members/tabid/62/ctl/ViewCMIS_Person/mid/384/id/383/Default.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |escutcheon = Argent a chevron engrailed Gules between three hierocosphinxes with the forelegs and hoofs of stags Vert about the neck of each a torse Or and Azure on a chief Vert two elephants statant each burdened with a tower Or each tusked and having a panache of three ostrich feathers at the brow Argent that on the dexter having the housings on the back Gules that on the sinister having the housings on the back Azure. |crest = Within an ancient crown Or a monocerosphinx Argent horned and the tail tufted Or each wing charged with an estoile Gules the dexter foreclaws holding a palm branch Or entwining the horn of a slip of briar Vert.<ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2015 |page=448}}</ref> |supporters = On either side a lion Argent collared and the tail tufted Or tied to the back of the collar a banderolle Gules and a line the last reflexed around the body and terminating in an annulet Vert perched upon the interior paw a dove Or the interior hindfoot resting on a castle per pale Vert and Gules. |motto = Audentia Et Clementia}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}} *{{cite book|title=Who's who 2011|year=2010|publisher=A. & C. Black|location=London|isbn=978-1-4081-2856-5|edition=163rd}} {{Refend}}

== External links == * [http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/lord-faulks/4183 Lord Faulks – UK Parliament] * [https://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/25008/lord_faulks Lord Faulks – TheyWorkForYou] * [https://www.gov.uk/government/people/lord-faulks Lord Edward Faulks QC – GOV.UK]

{{s-start}} {{s-prec|uk}} {{s-bef|before=The Lord Reid of Cardowan}} {{s-ttl|title=Gentlemen'''<br />''The Lord Faulks'' '''}} {{s-fol|after=The Lord Allan of Hallam}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Faulks, Edward}} Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Category:British barristers Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Members of the Middle Temple Category:20th-century King's Counsel Category:21st-century King's Counsel Category:Government ministers of the United Kingdom Category:Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford