Appointment of the new Senior Presiding Judge and Deputy Senior Presiding Judge

Senior Presiding Judge

Lord Justice Edis will stand down as Senior Presiding Judge (SPJ) on 30 September 2024, when his two-year term as SPJ ends.

The Lady Chief Justice, with the agreement of the Lord Chancellor, has in succession decided to appoint Lord Justice Green as SPJ for a two-year term, with effect from 1 October 2024.

Additionally, the Lady Chief Justice has decided to appoint Mrs Justice Yip as Deputy Senior Presiding Judge of England and Wales (DSPJ) for a two-year term, with effect from 1 October 2024.

The role of SPJ is a wide-ranging one. As well as being a Board member of HM Courts and Tribunals Service, the SPJ oversees the work of Presiding Judges on each Circuit in England and Wales. This entails overall responsibility for the deployment of judges and allocation of work in the courts, dealing with personnel issues for judges below High Court level. In addition, the SPJ has special responsibility for the Magistrates and acts as a general point of contact and communication between the judiciary, the courts and Government departments. The Deputy SPJ will support the SPJ in this work.

Background

Lord Justice Green

Lord Justice Nicholas Green was called to the Bar in 1986. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 1998 and a Recorder in 2003. At the Bar he specialised in EU law, constitutional and public law, competition and economic regulatory law, and general civil and commercial law. He was Chair of the Bar Council in 2010. He was appointed Chair of the Advocacy Training Council in 2011.

He was appointed to the High Court in October 2013 (Queen’s Bench Division, now King’s Bench Division) and was made a Presiding Judge on the South Eastern Circuit in 2016. He was appointed Chair of the Law Commission in August 2018 and a Lord Justice of Appeal in October 2018.

Mrs Justice Yip

Mrs Justice Amanda Yip was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1991 and practised at Exchange Chambers in Liverpool, commencing with a broad practice encompassing crime, civil and family law before specialising in personal injury and clinical negligence work. She was appointed a Recorder in 2009, Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2011, and a Deputy High Court Judge in 2013.

She was appointed to the High Court in 2017 (Queen’s Bench Division, now King’s Bench Division). She was appointed Director of Civil Training for the Judicial College in 2019 and served as Presiding Judge of the Northern Circuit from 2020 to 2023.