Lord Justice Popplewell went to school near Oxford, but to university in Cambridge, where he studied law at Downing College and obtained a first class degree. He was called to the Bar in 1981. A member of Brick Court Chambers, Sir Andrew had a diverse practice which included elements of defamation, emloyment, and public law, as well as the more traditional commercial areas of shipping, international trade, insurance and reinsurance, and banking. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997. In 2011, he became a Queen’s Bench Judge, as his father had been, although Sir Oliver Popplewell did not sit in the Commercial Court. Sir Andrew was Judge in charge of the Commercial Court in 2017 to 2018. He has been a Lord Justice of Appeal since 2019.

Sir Andrew is a trustee of the London Library, and enjoys fishing in wild places, such as Alaska and the more remote parts of England. He has never appeared in a film, but all three of his children have.