Geoffrey Vos | |
---|---|
Master of the Rolls | |
Assumed office 11 January 2021 | |
Monarchs | |
Preceded by | Sir Terence Etherton |
Chancellor of the High Court | |
In office 24 October 2016 – 11 January 2021 | |
Preceded by | Sir Terence Etherton |
Succeeded by | Sir Julian Flaux |
Lord Justice of Appeal | |
In office 1 October 2013 – 23 October 2016 | |
Personal details | |
Born | 22 April 1955 |
Alma mater | Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge |
Sir Geoffrey Charles Vos (born 22 April 1955) is a judge in England and Wales. Since January 2021, he has held the positions of Master of the Rolls and the Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales.[1]
Geoffrey Charles Vos was born on 22 April 1955 to Bernard Vos and Pamela Celeste Rose (née Heilbuth) Vos.[2][3] He was educated at University College School, London and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.[2]
Vos was called to the bar at Inner Temple in 1977, and practised in commercial and chancery litigation, both domestically and internationally. He took silk in 1993 and served as chair of the Chancery Bar Association from 1999 to 2001 and as chair of the Bar Council in 2007.
Sir Geoffrey began his judicial career with appointment as a deputy High Court Judge in 1999. He sat in the Courts of Appeal of Jersey and Guernsey between 2005 and 2009, and in the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands between 2008 and 2009. Vos was appointed a High Court Judge in October 2009 and was assigned to the Chancery Division.[4]
Vos was appointed as a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2013. He was President of the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary between 2014 and June 2016. He became Chancellor of the High Court on 24 October 2016.
Sir Geoffrey Vos was appointed the Master of the Rolls and Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales on 11 January 2021, succeeding Lord Etherton.[5]
In addition to being President of the Court of Appeal's Civil Division, the Master of the Rolls is chair of both the Civil Justice Council and the Civil Procedure Rule Committee. He is chair of the Advisory Council on National Records and Archives and of the Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research.[6] He is also a member of the LawtechUK Panel and chair of its UK Jurisdiction Taskforce.[7]
In March 2021, Sir Geoffrey disclosed that the Civil Justice Council was "looking at the extent to which litigants should be forced to mediate and if so, in what circumstances". He admitted the idea is "highly controversial".[8]
In April 2021, he called for a greater use of digital technology to accelerate the dispute resolution process.[9] In May 2021, he outlined his vision for digital justice reform in more detail, and the need to reform the overall system, rather than focusing only on the judicial decision-making process. Emphasising the need to focus on the whole picture, he said: "We should not allow the tail, however waggy, to wag the huge dispute resolution dog".[10]
Sir Geoffrey was chairman of the Social Mobility Foundation from 2008 to 2011. He is Treasurer of Lincoln's Inn for 2023, was made an honorary bencher of the King’s Inn, Dublin in 2021, and is an honorary fellow of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He was awarded an LLD (hons) by the University of Hull in January 2023.
He is a member of the Council and Executive of the European Law Institute and of the Steering Group of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts.
Notable judicial decisions of Sir Geoffrey include:
Sir Geoffrey married Vivien Mary Fieldhouse, in 1984.[2]
Sir Geoffrey is a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Club and an honorary member of the Worcestershire Golf Club.[2] He is a member of both the Liberal Jewish Synagogue St John's Wood and the Herefordshire Jewish community.[11]