New top judges

Birss becomes chancellor; six new appeal judges appointed

Lord Justice Birss has been appointed to succeed Sir Julian Flaux as chancellor of the High Court of England and Wales from 1 November.

The post — known as vice-chancellor until the lord chancellor ceased to be a judge — carries day-to-day responsibility for what are now the business and property courts

Sir Colin Birss

As chancellor, Birss will have full responsibility for the Chancery lists of these courts, including the business list, the insolvency and companies list, the intellectual property list, the property trusts and probate list, the competition list, the financial list (jointly with the commercial court) and the revenue list.

Birss is currently deputy head of civil justice and lead judge for artificial intelligence. Born in Thurso, he read natural sciences (physical) at Cambridge, graduating in 1986 with first-class honours in metallurgy and materials. After joining specialist intellectual property chambers he began his judicial career as a deputy chairman of the copyright tribunal.

He is thought to have been the first senior judge to have included an AI-generated paragraph in one of his judgments, some two years ago. He checked it first, of course.

Court of Appeal

Six High Court judges are being promoted to the Court of Appeal:

Top row, L-R: Dame Sara Cockerill, Sir Ian Dove, Sir David Foxton Second row, L-R: Dame Juliet May, Sir Robert Miles, Dame Amanda Yip

Mrs Justice Cockerill was appointed to what is now the King’s Bench division in 2017. She was the judge in charge of the Commercial Court between 2020 and 2022.

Mr Justice Dove became a fee-paid immigration adjudicator in 2000. He was appointed a High Court judge in 2014 and earlier this year he became deputy senior president of tribunals.

Mr Justice Foxton has been promoted to the Court of Appeal after just five years in the King’s Bench division. A commercial lawyer, he is a former head of Essex Court Chambers and a co-editor of Scrutton on Charterparties and Bills of Lading, now in its 25th edition.

Mrs Justice May has been a High Court judge since 2015. She worked as a forensic clinical psychologist before re-training as a barrister. Her first judicial post was as a part-time judge of the Mental Health Tribunal. Currently a member of the Sentencing Council, she tried criminal cases as a circuit judge and as a High Court judge.

Mr Justice Miles is the only judge promoted from the Chancery division, where he too spent only five years. At the bar he specialised in commercial and financial law, as well as civil fraud.

Mrs Justice Yip has presided over a number of high-profile criminal trials since she became a High Court judge in 2017. She has been deputy senior presiding judge for England and Wales since 2024. Her father was Sir John Kay, a lord justice of appeal.

Comment

This looks like a good series of promotions. Birss is very highly regarded, not least for his knowledge of patent law.

The Court of Appeal appointments include some high-flyers, still in their fifties, who are young enough to take senior leadership posts in the years ahead. Others have risen through the ranks. There are two much-needed criminal specialists and a judge who is clearly in line for appointment as senior president of tribunals in due course. And of course there is an equal number of men and women.

One of the most refreshing aspects of the announcement is its timing. Birss, in particular, has four months to plan and prepare. We have not been told when any of the six High Court judges will move to the Court of Appeal but I don’t suppose it will be before the opening of the legal year on 1 October.

When Dominic Raab was justice secretary it was not unknown for appointments such as these to be announced much closer to their starting date, causing inconvenience for all concerned. If the Judicial Appointments Commission has enough suitable candidates waiting in the wings, it is even possible that the gaps in the High Court caused by these promotions will be filled by the autumn.

Update 1315: A lecture about expert witnesses given by Birss a week ago has just been published.