{{Short description|Welsh lawyer and translator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{BLP more sources|date=November 2019}} '''Malcolm Leslie Bishop''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|KC}} (born 9 October 1944) is a Welsh lawyer and translator.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/6-april/features/interviews/interview-malcolm-bishop-lawyer-and-translator|title=Interview: Malcolm Bishop, lawyer and translator|last=|first=|date=|website=Church Times|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref>
Bishop was educated at Ruabon Grammar School and Regent's Park College, Oxford, of which he is now Honorary Standing Counsel. He was called to the Bar in 1968 and is now a Kings's Counsel.
He serves as a Deputy High Court Judge, Recorder of the Crown Court, Chairman of the Isle of Man Legal Services Commission, Bencher of the Inner Temple, and a member of the Family Law Bar Association Committee and he was formerly a member of the Bar Council.
He has also been a Prospective parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party, standing for Bath in February 1974 and October 1974.
As an advocate he has taken part in several notable criminal trials, including ''R v Carty'', a gang-related shooting in Birmingham, ''R v Sivakumar'', which was the longest murder trial ever heard at the Old Bailey, and ''R v Moinul Abedin'', in which the defendant was convicted of plotting explosions.
Bishop is a Welsh-speaker and it was claimed that Rhodri Morgan, First Minister for Wales, had chosen him as his preferred candidate for the post of Counsel General to the National Assembly for Wales (now called Counsel General for Wales) in succession to Winston Roddick, QC, in 2004. Rhodri Morgan said that he did not know Bishop, had never met him, and had never even spoken to him. In his application for the job Bishop had submitted a reference from Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg, who had recently stepped down as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3530987.stm|title = Morgan 'blocked' QC appointment|date = 4 March 2004}}</ref>
Bishop has worked on translating several gospels from Greek,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://suntci.com/sipt-defence-attorney-malcolm-bishop-qc-translates-the-word-of-god-p4129-129.htm|title=SIPT defence attorney Malcolm Bishop, QC, translates the Word of God|last=|first=|date=|website=Turks And Caicos SUN|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref> including St. John's Gospel,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/11/books-of-the-year-part-two-2/|title=Books of the year – part two|last=|first=|date=16 November 2019|website=The Spectator|language=en-US|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref> the Book of Revelation, and the Gospel of Mark.<ref name=":2" />
On 1 September 2024, he became the first openly gay Lord Chief Justice and President of the Land Court of the Kingdom of Tonga.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tonga Law Society members launch petition to remove Kingdom's first openly gay chief justice |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/527489/tonga-law-society-members-launch-petition-to-remove-kingdom-s-first-openly-gay-chief-justice |website=RNZ |access-date=9 September 2024 |date=9 September 2024|last1=Fotheringham|first1=Caleb}}</ref>
== Personal life == Bishop's partner of 51 years was Anthony Vander Woerd, a British businessman.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/british-businessman-shot-killed-front-3513313|title=British businessman shot and killed in front of partner in Caribbean|last1=Coles|first1=Jonathan|last2=Shaw|first2=Neil|date=7 November 2019|website=GloucestershireLive|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref> Woerd was killed by armed robbers in the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2019.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/bath-man-dies-after-being-3513356|title=Man dies after being shot by masked robbers on island holiday|last=Britten|first=Elise|date=7 November 2019|website=GloucestershireLive|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== Sources == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20041112234449/http://www.ucl.ac.uk/constitution-unit/monrep/wales/wales_february_2004.pdf ''Nations and Regions: The Dynamics of Devolution, Quarterly Monitoring Programme, Wales, Quarterly Report February 2004'', p. 2] * [https://www.theguardian.com/terrorism/story/0,12780,1183303,00.html Richard Norton-Taylor, 'Arrests point to radical new threat', ''The Guardian'', 1 April 2004] * [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3530987.stm Morgan 'blocked' QC appointment, BBC, 4 March 2004] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070622095544/http://2pb.co.uk/barristers.php?id=22 2 Paper Buildings The Chambers of Sir Desmond de Silva, QC] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071102140519/http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2007/09/an-end-to-godli.html Ruth Gledhill, 'An end to 'godliness' at Oxford', ''The Times'', 19 September 2007, including a reply posted by Malcolm Bishop, QC on 22 September 2007]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bishop, Malcolm}} Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Regent's Park College, Oxford Category:21st-century English judges Category:People from Oxford Category:Members of the Middle Temple Category:Welsh Labour politicians Category:1944 births Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Welsh King's Counsel Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Ruabon Grammar School Category:LGBTQ judges Category:British LGBTQ lawyers {{UK-law-bio-stub}}