Sir Nigel Teare was born on the Isle of Man and was educated at the island's King William College and at St Peter's College, Oxford. Called to the Bar in 1974 by Lincoln's Inn and appointed Queen's Counsel in 1991, he practised both commercial and admiralty law from Quadrant Chambers, of which he eventually became head. He acted as a Lloyd’s Salvage Arbitrator and then as a Lloyd’s Salvage Appeal Arbitrator; became a Recorder in 1997; and sat as a Judge in the Isle of Man as an Acting Deemster of the High Court and then of the Staff of Government (the appeal court) from 2000 to 2006. Sir Nigel was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2002, and as a Judge of the Queen's Bench Division in 2006. He sat in the Commercial Court from 2007, and was the Judge In Charge from 2017 to 2020. He was appointed as the Admiralty Judge in 2013, and was a Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit from 2013 to 2016.

Sir Nigel’s retirement from the Bench during lockdown in 2020 was an occasion for judicial novelty and technological innovation when his Commercial Court colleagues organised a virtual valedictory for him, which was conducted remotely over the internet. Sir Nigel now sits as an arbitrator. Maintaining his Isle of Man links, he collects Manx paintings. He also enjoys tennis and golf.