Ten new appeal judges announced

After practising at the Chancery Bar, Mr Justice Briggs was Attorney General of the Ducky of Lancaster until appointed to the Chancery Division in 2006. Mr Justice Christopher Clarke, a former chairman of the Commercial Bar Association, was counsel to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry from 1998 to 2004 before being appointed to the Queen’s Bench Division in 2005. Mr Justice Floyd was Chairman of the Intellectual Property Bar Association and appointed to the Chancery Division in 2007 as Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Mr Justice Fulford, for 10 years editor of the UK Human Rights Reports, was appointed in 2002 to the Queen’s Bench Division and became the British judge on the International Criminal Court in The Hague where he served for nine years and became Presiding Judge, Trial Chamber. More recently he has been Lead Presiding Judge, South Eastern Circuit. Mrs Justice Gloster became a High Court judge in 2004 and since 2010 was Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court during which time she presided over the case of Berezovsky v Abramovich. Mrs Justice Macur was appointed to the Family Division in 2005 and was Presiding Judge on the Midland Circuit 2008-11. Also from the Family Division is Mr Justice Ryder who was Presiding Judge in the Northern Circuit and, more recently, Judge in Charge of Modernisation of Family Justice. Mrs Justice Sharp, who practised at the media and information Bar, was appointed to the Queen’s Bench Division in 2009 and has been a Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit. Mr Justice Underhill was Attorney General to the Duchy of Cornwall for eight years before being appointed to the Queen’s Bench Division in 2006. He was President of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, 2009-11. Mr Justice Vos was Chairman of the Bar in 2007 after being Chairman of the Chancery Bar Association. He has been Chairman of the Social Mobility Foundation. His elevation comes after the shortest period on the Bench of the 10 judges (3½ years). While in the Chancery Division he has had supervision over the phone hacking cases.

The judges will leave the High Court to fill forthcoming vacancies in the Court of Appeal over the course of this year. The appointments, a sign of progress towards increasing the number of women in the senior judiciary, follow the elevation of Sir Terence Etherton, Sir Roger Toulson and Sir Anthony Hughes, the retirements of Sir Alan Ward and Sir Malcolm Pill, and the forthcoming retirements of Lord Judge, Sir Bernard Rix, Sir Mathew Thorpe, Sir John Mummery and Sir Timothy Lloyd.