Dame Nathalie Marie Daniella Lieven, , (born 20 May 1964), known as Lady Justice Lieven, is a judge of the Court of Appeal.
Practising law since 1989, in her career as a barrister Lieven specialised in planning and administrative law and was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 2006.
Early life A member of the English branch of the Lieven family, originally Baltic Germans, on her father's side, and of Irish Catholic descent on her mother's side, Nathalie Lieven was born to Alexander Lieven and Veronica Eileen Mary (née Monahan) Lieven. She is the sister of Elena, Dominic, Anatol, and Michael Lieven.Joseph Hone, Wicked Little Joe: A Tale of Childhood and Youth (Lilliput Press, 2009), p. 240; Dominic Lieven, Towards the Flame: Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia (2015)
She was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she graduated BA in 1986, then trained as a barrister at Gray's Inn, London.Graya: A Magazine for Members of Gray's Inn, Issue 90 (1986), p. 92
Career Lieven was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1989. She joined Landmark Chambers"Landmark Chambers", company-information.service.gov.uk, appointment as director 2007, accessed 13 April 2021 and later Blackstone Chambers. She specialised in planning and administrative law,David Burrows, "On the appointment of Lieven J to the Family Division", iclr.co.uk, 11 January 2019, accessed 13 April 2021 appointed Queen's Counsel in 2006High-flying women on new QCs list, The Daily Telegraph, 20 July 2006, accessed 13 April 2021 and a deputy High Court judge in 2016.Mark Wilding, "High Court appoints Nathalie Lieven QC", planningresource.co.uk, 4 January 2019, accessed 13 April 2021
Lieven was appointed as a High Court judge on 11 January 2019 and was assigned to the Family Division. She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in December 2019The London Gazette, Issue 62855, 13 December 2019 (Supplement), p. 144"Mrs Justice Lieven", profile at counselmagazine.co.uk, accessed 13 April 2021
Before her appointment as a judge, Lieven commented
Lieven was a Labour Party councillor for the Somers Town ward on the Camden London Borough Council from 1994 to 1998.
Notable cases
In June 2019, on the application of a National Health Service Trust in charge of an ante-natal clinic, Mrs Justice Lieven made an order in the Court of Protection for a pregnant Nigerian woman with learning difficulties to have a forced abortion against her wishes, on the grounds that it was in her best interests. She said she was not sure the woman understood what having a baby meant and that "she would like to have a baby in the same way she would like to have a nice doll". However, the woman's mother, represented by John McKendrick QC, appealed successfully against this decision to the Court of Appeal.Harriet Sherwood, Appeal court overturns forced abortion ruling, The Guardian, 24 June 2019 The order was overturned by Lady Justice King, Lord Justice McCombe, and Lord Justice Jackson, with King explaining that "In the end, the evidence taken as a whole was simply not sufficient to justify the profound invasion of AB’s rights represented by the non-consensual termination of this advanced pregnancy."RE: AB (Termination of Pregnancy) 2019 EWCA Civ 1215, judiciary.uk, 11 July 2019, accessed 13 April 2021
In January 2020, in a legal battle between Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the parents of a child on a life support system, Mrs Justice Lieven gave permission for the life support to be withdrawn, having found that the child was "brainstem dead" and therefore had no best interests to consider.Clare Dyer, Baby at centre of legal battle can have life support removed, says judge, British Medical Journal, 29 January 2020, accessed 14 April 2021Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust v. Midrar Namiq and Others EWHC 5 (Fam), paragraphs 32, 57, judiciary.uk, 28 January 2020, accessed 14 April 2021
In March 2021, Mrs Justice Lieven had to consider whether a transgender teenager with gender dysphoria who wished to continue with puberty-blocking drugs needed the permission of the court to do so. She found that "... the parents' right to consent to treatment on behalf of the child continues even when the child is Gillick competent to make the decision, save where the parents are seeking to override the decision of the child". As the parents and the teenager were in agreement, the treatment was to continue.AB v CD and Others EWHC 741 (Fam), para 114, judiciary.uk, 26 March 2021, accessed 14 April 2021
Personal life In 1995, Lieven married Stewart MacDonald Wright, a barrister.Graya: A Magazine for Members of Gray's Inn, Issue 99, p. 67Nathalie M D Lieven, in England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916–2005, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 13 April 2021 They have two children."Rosa Natasha M Lieven Wright" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007, ancestry.co.uk, accessed 13 April 2021
Notes
External links "Nathalie Lieven QC", photoshelter.com