The son of Isaac and Rachel Hyam, Michael Hyam was educated at Westminster School and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he read Law, he was called to the bar in 1962 by Gray's Inn and joined 6 Pump Court Chambers, where he remained until his appointment to the bench.
He was one of the first circuit judges to sit regularly at the Court of Appeal Criminal Division.
At Norwich, he introduced joint civil and criminal hearings for cases involving children, which have been adopted across the country.
As the senior judge at the Old Bailey, Hyam tried many high-profile criminal cases, including those of politicians Jonathan Aitken and Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare, murderer and rapist David Mulcahy, and of the terrorist and murderer David Copeland.
Hyam died in service of a heart attack in 2004 after being taken ill at a dinner of the Institute of Barristers’ Clerks.