Career
Circuit Judge from 2004
(Resident Judge Peterborough and Huntingdon Crown Courts from 2011)
Recorder/Assistant Recorder 1999 - 2004
District Judge 1995-2004
Deputy District Judge 1989-1995
Partner, Bindman and Partners 1985-1995
Solicitor, Nash and Dowell 1984-1985
Solicitor, Camden Community Law Centre 1978-1983
I was admitted as a solicitor in 1978.
M.A. Law (Cantab) (2:1 in both parts of the tripos)
Legal committees and working groups
Civil Justice Council 2004 - 2006
Civil Justice Council Experts’ Committee (chair) 2004 - 2008
Civil Justice Council Housing and Land Committee 2001 - 2011
Civil Procedure Rules Committee (co-opted for CPR Pts 55 and 56) 2001
Deputy Chairman North West London Advisory Committee 2008 – 2010
Chairman North West London Advisory Committee 2010 - 2011
Franco-British-Irish Judicial Committee from 2001
Law Society's Civil Litigation Committee 1992 -1995
Law Society's Housing sub-committee 1987-1992
Joint Working Party of the Bar and Law Society on Civil Procedure
("Heilbron/Hodge Committee") 1991 – 1993
London Legal Aid Area Committee 1988 – 1995
Lord Woolf's Access to Justice Housing Working Party 1996 – 1998
Nuffield Foundation Advisory Panel on the Paths to Justice research
project chaired by Dame Brenda Hale 1996 – 1999
Founder member of the Housing Law Practitioners' Association.
Legal policy work
January to March 2008, drafted tests for Judicial Appointments Commission to be completed by candidates seeking appointment as Recorders and Circuit Judges.
Seconded in 2000 to the Law Commission for three months to write a scoping study on reform of housing law which eventually resulted in the Law Commission Report Renting Homes.
I played an important role in drafting two CPR Protocols on Expert Evidence and Possession Claims and then liaising with other organisations and committees (often with conflicting views) to generate support and ensure their implementation.
Human Rights Missions to Ankara (Amnesty International, 1990) and Mexico (FIDH, 1991).
Writing and publishing
Books
Civil Procedure (“The White Book”), member of Senior Editorial Board, since 2004, contributor since 1999
Experts in the Civil Courts (OUP) ed. Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC , contributor, 2006
Defending Possession Proceedings (Legal Action Group), 7 edns, from 1987 to 2010
Annotated Housing Statutes (Sweet and Maxwell), 2 edns, 2003 and 2005
Housing Law Casebook (Legal Action Group), 4 edns, from 1996 to 2008
Debt and Housing - Emergency Procedures (Legal Action Group), 1993
Tribunal Practice (Law Society) contributor, 1988
Tribunals Practice and Procedure (Legal Studies and Services Ltd) contributor, 1985
English Roots - a family history (Alan Sutton), 1995
one world one view (photographs)(African Children’s Educational Trust), 2007
Journals
Contributor to Law Society's Gazette, New Law Journal, Solicitors Journal, Legal Action, Justice of the Peace, Journal of Housing Law, Criminal Law Review, Association of District Judges Law Bulletin, Judicial Studies Board Journal, The Times (Law Section), The Guardian and Civil Justice Quarterly.
Consulting editor United Kingdom Human Rights Reports, from February 2000
Legal lecturing and training
Member of Judicial Studies Board (JSB) tutor team since c1997, both as a lecturer and a syndicate leader, including deputy district judge induction, civil continuation, civil recorder induction, Human Rights Act training, country-wide seminars on Housing Act 1996, Anti-social Behaviour courses and circuit based civil and criminal refreshers.
Member of JSB International Board from 2011.
I have given lectures on expert evidence for the Expert Witness Institute and the Academy of Experts , primarily on CPR Pt 35. I have recently given lectures to Scottish judges (organised by the Scottish JSB) and the BMA on expert evidence.
I have given lectures on the evidence of children and civil claims at international conferences in France, Belgium and Ireland , organised, by the Council of Europe and the Franco-British-Irish Judicial Committee.
I wrote (and update) the chapter on possession claims in the JSB Bench Book. I planned the JSB training CD-ROM on possession claims, wrote its text and voice-overs, was involved in liaising with the designers, arranged the links to statutes and case summaries and recorded one of the voice-overs for the CD-ROM.
Prior to appointment as a judge, I lectured on an ad hoc basis for Brunel University (law for social workers) Goldsmiths College (criminal law for youth workers), Shelter (housing law for practitioners), the Legal Action Group (accredited courses for practitioners), the Law Society (on advocacy skills, civil procedure, judicial review and housing law at national conferences), local law societies, barristers’ chambers and solicitors’ firms and commercial providers (e.g. Family Law and Jordans).
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