Legal history is to be made when a married couple are sworn in together as High Court judges.
The couple will be sworn in together on Tuesday
Peter Openshaw QC, 57, and Caroline Swift QC, 50, will serve in the Queens Bench Division when they are sworn in at London's Royal Courts of Justice.
They are thought to be the first wife and husband to be sworn in together.
Judge Openshaw is Resident Judge and Honorary Recorder of Preston. His wife is a Deputy High Court Judge and was leading counsel to the Shipman Inquiry.
Caroline Swift QC was educated at Lancaster Girls' Grammar School and the University of Durham.
She was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1975 and called to the Bar in 1977. She was made Assistant Recorder in 1992 and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1993 and Recorder in 1995.
In 1997, she became a Governing Bencher of the Inner Temple and in 2000 was authorised to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge.
Judge Openshaw QC, 57, was educated at Harrow and St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1970 and took Silk in 1991.
He was appointed Assistant Recorder in 1985, Recorder in 1988 and a Senior Circuit Judge in 1999, since when he has sat as Resident Judge and Honorary Recorder of Preston.
The pair will be sworn in on Tuesday.