Sir Barry Paul Cotter (born 30 July 1963) is a British High Court judge.

Early life and education

Cotter grew up in St Helens, England and attended West Park High School there; he completed an LLB at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in 1984.

Career

He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1985 and practised personal injury, product liability law and medical negligence law. He was appointed a recorder in 2002,

took silk A King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Qu ...

in 2006, and served as a recorder until 2010 when he was appointed a circuit judge and a deputy High Court judge. He served as the designated civil judge for Devon and Cornwall from 2010 to 2017, then for Avon, Somerset and Gloucester until 2021. He was senior circuit judge at Bristol's Civil and Family Law Centre from 2018 to 2021. Further, he was a

visiting fellow In academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of ...

at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

from 2016 to 2020 and from 2021 has been an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

at the

City University of Hong Kong The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...

. From 2020, he has been

Visitor A visitor, in English and Welsh law and history, is an overseer of an autonomous ecclesiastical or eleemosynary institution, often a charitable institution set up for the perpetual distribution of the founder's alms and bounty, who can interve ...

of the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. In addition to practice, he wrote ''Cotter: Defective and Unsafe Products: Law and Practice'' in 1996 and was general editor of ''Munkman on Employer's Liability'' in its 14th edition in 2006 and 15th edition in 2009.

High Court appointment

On 1 October 2021, he was appointed a judge of the High Court and assigned to the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

. He received the customary knighthood in the same year.

Personal life

In 1996, he married Catherine Maskell and together they have a son and two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cotter, Barry Living people 1963 births 21st-century English judges Knights Bachelor Academics of City, University of London Alumni of University College London Members of Lincoln's Inn People from St Helens, Merseyside Queen's Bench Division judges English King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel Alumni of the UCL Faculty of Laws