Lord Justice Birss

Court of Appeal Civil DivisionCourt of Appeal Criminal DivisionBiographies

Lord Justice Colin Birss was called to the Bar in 1990 and practised in intellectual property law. He was Standing Counsel for the Comptroller 2003-2008. In 2008 he took silk and also became Deputy Chair of the Copyright Tribunal. In 2010 he was appointed as a Specialist Circuit Judge sitting in the Patents County Court (now IPEC). In 2013 he was appointed to the High Court, Chancery Division. He served as Supervising Judge for the Business and Property Courts on the Midlands, Western and Wales Circuits from 2017-2019 and in 2019 became Judge in Charge of the Patents Court.

He is an independent judicial member of the EPO Boards of Appeal Committee, serves on the Advisory Board of Judges for the WIPO Judicial Institute, is General Editor of Terrell on the Law of Patents, and is a Council member of the UK Foundation for Science and Technology.

He was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal on 25 January 2021 and Deputy Head of Civil Justice from 11 January 2021.