Several former solicitors were installed on the bench by the former lord chief justice, Lord Burnett of Maldon, in one of his last acts as head of the judiciary.
Lord Burnett, together with lord chancellor, Alex Chalk KC MP, appointed Richard Armstrong as a High Court Master from November 2024. Armstrong was admitted in 1994, becoming a deputy district judge in 2013 and a district judge in 2018. The former civil litigator at Wheelers Solicitors will sit in the King’s Bench Division.
Two other solicitor judges were appointed as circuit judges in the Midlands Circuit, from November.
Her Honour Judge Saira Singh will sit at Walsall County Court. Singh, a former professional support lawyer at Hogan Lovells, and arbitration editor at Thomson Reuters, was admitted in 1994, becoming a deputy district judge in 2013, and a district judge in 2020. She was appointed as a recorder earlier this year.
Sunita Mason CBE also becomes a circuit judge. Her Honour Judge Mason, a former chair of the Law Society’s family law committee and a district judge at Peterborough County Court since 2012, will be based at Nottingham County Court. She became a deputy district judge in 2005.
Two other solicitors were appointed to the South Eastern Circuit, at Luton Crown Court and Medway County Court respectively.
His Honour Judge Ross Johnson will be based at Luton Crown Court. Johnson, admitted in 2002, has held posts as a deputy district judge, recorder, and tribunal judge. The former criminal solicitor was an associate at Galbraith Branley Solicitors before joining the magistrates’ court bench as a full-time district judge in 2020.
Clive Thomas, meanwhile, moves to Medway. As a solicitor, Thomas was a member of the Law Society’s personal injury and clinical negligence panels, and a solicitor-advocate, before joining Farrar’s Building as a barrister in 2005. He was appointed as a deputy district judge in 2006 and as a district judge in 2018.
Guy Baddeley, formerly a partner at Howells, will sit at the Sheffield Combined Court, as a circuit judge. Baddeley, admitted in 1989, became a District Judge in 2009, having first served as a deputy in 2002.
Tracey Ashford, a legal director at Thrings in Bristol, will become a full-time district judge from January 2024, based at Gloucester County Court. She was appointed a deputy district judge in 2019.
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