Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr
Key details
- Job title: The Lady Chief Justice, the Right Honourable the Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill & Head of the Judiciary of England and Wales & President of the Courts of England and Wales
- Firm: Judiciary of England and Wales
- Jurisdiction: UK
The Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr oversees the judicial system, within which some of the most significant UK and cross-border IP disputes are decided.
Called to the Bar in 1987, she practised as a barrister specialising in commercial litigation, public law, and regulatory disputes.
She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2003 and a High Court judge in 2009.
She was later appointed to the Court of Appeal in 2013.
In 2023, Baroness Carr was appointed Lady Chief Justice, becoming the most senior judge in England and Wales and head of the judiciary.
While she does not sit as an intellectual property specialist judge in this role, she is responsible for judicial leadership, the deployment of judges, and the efficient functioning of the courts system.
Her influence in IP is particularly significant given the ongoing reforms to the UK’s business and property courts and wider court modernisation programme, which includes consolidation of commercial jurisdictions, efforts to streamline complex litigation, and improvements in case management and digital processes.
These reforms directly affect how high-value intellectual property disputes are handled, including the speed, organisation, and efficiency of patent and trademark litigation in England and Wales, one of the world’s most important jurisdictions for IP enforcement.