Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury has been named the next president of the UK Supreme Court, succeeding current president Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers.

The announcement was made this morning (12 July), with Neuberger set to take up the role on 1 October this year.

Neuberger will become only the second-ever UK Supreme Court president after the top court was launched in October 2009.

Neuberger was appointed as Master of the Rolls in July of the same year, succeeding Lord Anthony Clarke.

Phillips said: "Identifying a successor to lead the Supreme Court into the next phase of its life was inevitably a task I approached with mixed feelings – a degree of pride in preparing to hand over leadership of an organisation which has maintained a smooth and efficient service as the UK's highest court following the significant changes brought about by the Constitutional Reform Act, but also an element of sadness in leaving that same organisation.

"But in Lord Neuberger I know we have an extremely talented new President, who brings not only a wealth of judicial experience but the ability to lead a collegiate court. I wish him all the very best and I only hope that he enjoys this very special honour as much as I have."

Neuberger said: "Together with the other members of the Court, I will do my best to ensure that it continues to play its proper role in upholding the rule of law, and applying and developing the law in a coherent and principled and practical way, appropriate for today's world."

Prior to his appointment as president of the Supreme Court, Phillips was senior lord of appeal in ordinary from October 2008-09, effectively the equivalent position to president in the House of Lords.

He has also served as Master of the Rolls from 2000-05 and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 2005-08. He was the first Lord Chief Justice to be head of the English judiciary when the function was transferred from the Lord Chancellor in April 2006. He will retire once he steps down later this year.

Neuberger was called to the Bar in 1974, taking silk in 1987. He became a High Court judge assigned to the Chancery division in 1996 and was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 2004. He was knighted in 1996 and made a life peer in 2007.

It is not yet known who will replace Neuberger as Master of the Rolls.

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