Leeds Circuit Commercial Court
Business and Property Courts in Leeds
The Leeds Circuit Commercial Court has been resolving a broad range of business disputes for 30 years.
Businesses throughout the Leeds City Region, Yorkshire and the North East of England make use of the court and the specialist judges who sit in it.
Reflecting the local economy and the high concentration of accountancy practices, solicitors practices and financial institutions in the region, the work of the court is diverse, ranging from financial and digital disputes to manufacturing and employment disputes.
Telephone: 0113 3062461
Again reflecting the local economy, and, in particular, Yorkshire’s significant economic output, which is expected to grow, the amounts in issue in disputes range from the hundreds of thousands of pounds to the millions of pounds.
To meet the needs of court users, 6 resident specialist Circuit Judges, who are also authorised to deal with other Business & Property Courts work, sit in the Leeds Circuit Commercial Court. Deputy High Court Judges, who are specialist KCs, can also be called on when necessary, and, in suitable cases, Judges of the Commercial Court are able to sit in Leeds to resolve disputes. The Business & Property Courts Supervising Judge for the North-East (currently Mr Justice Fancourt) also sits regularly in Leeds and is able to hear Circuit Commercial Court business.
The courts available for use for Circuit Commercial Court business have been fitted out so that they are well able to accommodate remote and hybrid hearings.
Judges
HH Judge Davis-White KC
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 Specialist Chancery, Circuit Commercial and TCC 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 (19th Edn) and is joint author, with Professor Adrian Walters, of Directors Disqualification and Insolvency Restrictions.
HHJ Klein
Jonathan Klein is a Specialist Circuit Judge based in Leeds. He is authorised to sit in all the courts of the Business and Property Courts, as well as in the Administrative Court, the Planning Court and the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). He also sits in the Court of Protection.
He grew up and was educated in London. He read law as an undergraduate at the University of Essex, and as a postgraduate at the University of Oxford. After pupillage, he practised as a commercial chancery barrister in specialist chambers in Leeds and London.
He was appointed a Civil Recorder in 2010, and, shortly after, he was authorised to hear Chancery Business at Central London County Court and on the North-Eastern Circuit. He was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge in the Chancery Division in 2013, and he became a full-time judge in 2017.
HH Judge Gosnell
HH Judge Mark Gosnell was admitted as a Solicitor in 1981 and was a partner in a High-Street Practice in Lancashire. He specialised mainly in personal injury and clinical negligence work.
He was appointed a Deputy District Judge in 1993 and a District Judge in 1998. Whilst a District Judge in Manchester he specialised mainly in industrial disease, catastrophic injury and clinical negligence cases. He was also a Regional Costs Judge.
He was appointed a Recorder in 2005 both in the criminal and civil jurisdictions. In October 2010, he was appointed Designated Civil Judge of Leeds and North Yorkshire and in 2012 he became DCJ of the Bradford and West Yorkshire group of courts. He is a course tutor on the Specialist Jurisdictions Course at the Judicial College and has lectured extensively on topics such as case management, housing law and costs. He has held authorisation to sit in both the High Court and County Court on Chancery claims and claims in the Circuit Commercial Court since 2010.
HH Judge Jackson
Claire Jackson became one of the judges of the Circuit Commercial Court in February 2021.
She is also authorised to sit in Chancery, the Technology and Construction Court and the Administrative Court. While Leeds is her main court, she also sits in Newcastle and at the Rolls Building.
She was educated at her local state secondary school and sixth form college before reading Law at the University of East Anglia.
She was called to the Bar in 2002 and practised at Enterprise Chambers and Kings Chambers in Leeds in commercial chancery work.
She was a Deputy District Judge and a District Judge before her appointment.
HH Judge Kelly
Her Honour Judge Kelly became one of the judges of the Circuit Commercial Court in February 2021.
She is also authorised to sit in the Technology and Construction Court, the Administrative Court and in the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). She sits in Leeds, Newcastle and London.
Her Honour Judge Kelly was educated at St Mary’s RC High School, Chesterfield and All Saints Catholic High School, Sheffield before reading law at Queens’ College, Cambridge.
She was called to the Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1995 and practised at St Johns Buildings, Sheffield in clinical negligence and personal injury work.
She was appointed a Specialist Civil Recorder and a Deputy District Judge in 2010. She also sat as an Assistant Coroner between 2012 and 2016. She was appointed as a District Judge in 2014 in Leeds and in the same year was authorised to hear Chancery work. She was appointed in January 2021 as a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge sitting in the Business and Property Courts based in Leeds with lead responsibility for the Technology and Construction Court in Leeds.
She is a Course Director for the Specialist Civil Course at the Judicial College and she also teaches on the Civil Course.
Contact and other details
Address: Leeds Combined Court Centre, The Courthouse, 1 Oxford Row, Leeds, LS1 3BG.
Section Manager: Sandie Umarji
Telephone: 0113 3062460
Email: sandie.umarji@justice.gov.uk
General email: bpc.leeds@justice.gov.uk
Email for skeleton arguments: bpc.leeds.skeletons@justice.gov.uk
Email for listing issues: bpc.leeds.listing@justice.gov.uk
General telephone: 0113 3062461
Parking
City Centre Car Parks (external link) operated by Leeds City Council, including the International Pool Car Park, which is located close to the Combined Court Centre