Mrs Justice Cockerill to be deputy head of civil justice

Mrs Justice Cockerill is to take over as deputy head of civil justice in November, the Judicial Office has announced. She will succeed Lord Justice Birss, who steps down from the role on 31 October upon his appointment as chancellor of the High Court. 

Cockerill will in the meantime become Lady Justice Cockerill on her appointment to the Court of Appeal, announced last month.

Sara Cockerill, 56, was called to the bar (Lincoln’s Inn) in 1990 and took silk in 2011. She specialised in commercial law from 1990 to 2017.

She was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 2016, and a High Court judge in the-then Queen’s Bench Division in 2017. From 2020 to 2022, she served as the judge in charge of the Commercial Court.

Among her responsibilities as deputy head of civil justice will be to implement the master of the rolls’ vision of a digital dispute resolution system.