Joanna Smith (judge)

The Honourable
Mrs Justice Smith
Smith in 2022
Justice of the High Court
Incumbent
Assumed office
15 February 2021
Personal details
Born (1968-04-27) 27 April 1968 (age 56)
London, England
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford

Dame Joanna Angela Smith, DBE (born 27 April 1968), styled Mrs Justice Smith, is a British High Court judge.[1]

Smith was born in London, England in 1968 and educated at King's Ely. She attended Christ Church, Oxford, matriculating in 1986, and graduated with a first-class MA in jurisprudence.[2][1]

She was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1990, practising commercial, professional negligence and construction law from Cornerstone Chambers and Wilberforce Chambers.[3][4] Smith took silk in 2009 and was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 2017. As a practitioner, she appeared in the 2015 Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi case before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Prior to her full-time judicial appointment, she took appointments as an arbitrator.[5][1]

On 15 February 2021, Smith was appointed a judge of the High Court and assigned to the Chancery Division.[6][7] She received the customary damehood in 2020.[1]

In 1994, she married Mark Vanhegan (a fellow KC) and together they have two daughters.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Smith, Hon. Dame Joanna Angela, (born 27 April 1968)". Who's Who (UK). 1 December 2021. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u249683. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Women at the House - Joanna Smith". Christ Church, Oxford. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  3. ^ "Former member Joanna Smith QC has been appointed as a Justice of the High Court". Cornerstone Chambers. 22 December 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  4. ^ "Joanna Smith QC appointed High Court judge". Wilberforce Chambers. 22 December 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  5. ^ "High Court Judges 2020". Judicial Appointments Commission. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  6. ^ "Senior Judiciary". Judiciary UK. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
  7. ^ "High Court Appointment". Judiciary UK. 22 December 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2022.