Hubert Dunn
William Hubert Dunn was a Northern Ireland-born English senior barrister and judge, who held national offices in the areas of mental health and immigration, including that of Chief Immigration Adjudicator of the UK. A leader in a youth charity for many years, later in life he researched and authored a study of the life and work of the Irish poet Francis Ledwidge.
Early life
William Hubert Dunn, known for most of his life as Hubert, was born in Belfast on 8 July 1933, the son of businessman William and Isobel Dunn of Tudor Hall, Holywood, County Down, Northern Ireland. He attended the nearby Rockport School in County Down and later Winchester College, making him an Old Wykehamist. He studied for a Bachelor of Arts in politics, economics and philosophy at New College, Oxford, graduating with honours in 1955. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Life Guards on 4 August 1956, relinquishing his commission exactly a year later and transferring into the reserve. In 1958 he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. He worked at the chambers of Lord Havers and Frederick Lawton. He returned to New College, and in 1966 secured an M.A.Career
Dunn was appointed Local Government Commissioner for the South-East Circuit of England, serving 1963 to 1964. He qualified to serve as a recorder in 1970 and was appointed as such in 1980. He was made a Queen's Counsel in 1982 and appointed as a circuit judge in 1993, serving until October 2005. He was later appointed as the Legal Member of the Restricted Patients Panel of the Mental Health Tribunal, which deals with patients detained after trial.Dunn was appointed an immigration adjudicator and special adjudicator, and was appointed Chief Immigration Adjudicator for the United Kingdom by the Lord Chancellor in 1998, appearing before the UK parliament in that capacity. He concluded his immigration work in 2001.
Non-profit and charitable work
Dunn served as a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn from 1990 to his death. He was the founder, and for a period secretary, of the London Ulster Lawyers' Union.Dunn was a leader from the early years of the charity Hope for Youth, which runs cross-community projects for young people in Northern Ireland. He became chairperson ща the charity's trustees, and when he retired from that role in 2003, assumed the role of president of the charity; his daughter later became a trustee of the charity.