Judges

The Hon Mr Justice Fancourt, Vice-Chancellor of the County Palatine of Lancaster

Mr Justice Fancourt began his judicial career in 2009 when he was appointed a Recorder of the Crown Court. He sat regularly in the Crown Court until 2018. Having been appointed a Deputy High Court Judge of the Chancery Division in 2013 he was then appointed a High Court Judge to sit in the Chancery Division in 2018. He served as President of the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) from August 2019 to August 2022 and was then appointed Vice-Chancellor in September 2021, in succession to Mr Justice Snowden. As such, he is the supervising judge for the Business and Property Courts on the Northern and North-Eastern Circuits. He published Enforceability of Landlord and Tenant Covenants (3^rd ed. 2014) and is the general editor of Muir Watt and Moss, Agricultural Holdings (15^th ed).

HH Judge Davis-White KC was called to the Bar in 1984. He was appointed QC (now KC) in 2003. His practice was grounded in the fields of company, insolvency and financial services law but also encompassed a broad commercial, regulatory and governmental practice.

He was a member of the Attorney-General’s Civil “A” panel, a Senior Decision Maker of the Guernsey Financial Services Authority and, in the latter part of 2016, was appointed to be a Judge (acting) of the High Court, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court sitting in the Commercial Court in the British Virgin Islands.

He was appointed a Recorder in 2009 and a Deputy High Court Judge sitting in the Chancery Division in 2013. Since December 2016 he has been a TCC and Specialist Chancery and Circuit Commercial Judge, principally based on the North Eastern Circuit. He is the lead Chancery Circuit Judge for the North Eastern Circuit. He was the joint author with Professor Sandra Frisby of Kerr on Receivers and Administrators (19^th Edn) and is joint author, with Professor Adrian Walters, of Directors Disqualification and Insolvency Restrictions.

District Judge Temple

District Judge Michelle Temple is a graduate of University College Oxford and was called to the Bar in 1992.

After a pupillage at 1 New Square in London she moved to Broad Chare Chambers in Newcastle upon Tyne where she practised for 17 years before moving to Trinity Chambers. She specialised in Chancery and Commercial work with a particular interest in property and probate cases. She also developed a thriving Court of Protection practice, particularly in property and affairs matters.

She was appointed as a Deputy District Judge in 2010 and was authorised to sit in Chancery work as a Deputy. She was appointed a full time District Judge with Chancery authorisation in April 2013. She is the Senior Chancery District Judge in Newcastle upon Tyne and the Regional Lead Judge for the Court of Protection.

District Judge Terence Phillips

District Judge Terence Phillips was appointed as a DDJ in 2015. He became authorised to hear BPC matters following his appointment as a full time District Judge in 2018.

He was admitted as a solicitor in 2006 and practiced at a multi-national law firm. He specialised in insolvency litigation and worked with individual clients and office holders across a wide spectrum of disputes as well as advising in relation to regulatory matters for government departments.

District Judge David Hambler

District Judge David Hambler was appointed as a DDJ in 2015. He became authorised to hear BPC matters as a Deputy, and has continued to do so following his full-time appointment in 2019.

After graduating from Oxford and undertaking his post-graduate legal qualifications at the University of Northumbria, he was admitted as a solicitor in 2001 and practiced at a large national firm. His area of specialism was commercial and residential property litigation, and he dealt with a wide variety of contentious matters in this field on behalf of large companies, national charities, public sector bodies and individuals