David Hacking, 3rd Baron Hacking

David Hacking, 3rd Baron Hacking (born 17 April 1938) is a British arbitrator, barrister and hereditary peer.

Education and military career

He was educated at Aldro preparatory school, Charterhouse and Clare College, Cambridge, from where he graduated BA in 1961; he received his MA in 1968. His professional education was at the Inns of Court School of Law. He served in the Royal Naval Reserve from 1954–64, seeing active service 1956-8 and reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

Career in law

Hacking is a qualified barrister and solicitor in England and Wales as well as an Attorney in the United States. He has worked for over 40 years as an international arbitrator and mediator of commercial disputes.

House of Lords

Having inherited the title Baron Hacking from his father in 1971, Hacking sat in the House of Lords for over 20 years, contributing to reform of arbitration law and related areas. Having sat as a Conservative, in 1998 he defected to Labour over the European and law and order policies of then party leader William Hague. He lost his automatic right to a seat under the House of Lords Act 1999. He sought to return to the House in the by-election caused by the death of Lord Milner of Leeds in 2003. He has stood in several subsequent by-elections as a crossbencher.

Arms