Chancery Division
From 2018, when the Business and Property Courts were established in the regions, the three specialist jurisdictions of the Chancery Division, the Circuit Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court have come together, in Leeds as in London. Chancery work, which has a long tradition in Leeds, is now done in the Chancery lists of the Business and Property Courts.
In addition to the Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster, who is the supervising Chancery High Court Judge for the north-eastern circuit, there are four full-time specialist Circuit Judges who are authorised to sit as a judge of the High Court in Leeds: HHJ Davis-White QC, HHJ Klein, HHJ Jackson and HHJ Kelly, who are supported where necessary by HHJ Gosnell, the Designated Civil Judge in Leeds. All are authorised to hear cases in each of the three specialist jurisdictions. The senior Chancery judge is HHJ Davis-White QC. Profiles of all the judges and the specialist BPC district judges can be found on the Judges webpage.
Cases in all of the Chancery Division lists may be issued and heard in Leeds, regardless of the value or complexity of the case, except for cases in the Patents Court, the Revenue List and the Financial List, which must be issued in London. Competition law cases involving allegations of breach of articles 101 and 102 of the EU Treaty or their equivalents in Chapter I and II of the Competition Act 1998 must be issued in or transferred to London.