Dame Frances Jean Judd, DBE (born 13 February 1961) is a British High Court judge.

Early life and education

Judd was educated at The King's School in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. She studied history at

New Hall, Cambridge New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, completing a BA in 1982.

Career

Following university, she was called to the bar at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1984, practising family law; she was head of chambers at Harcourt Chambers from 2009 to 2018. She was an associate member of St John's Chambers. Judd served as a recorder from 2002 to 2019,

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 2006 and was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 2011. She was chair of the Family Law Bar Association in 2018. In addition to practice, Judd jointly wrote ''Contact: The New Deal'' in 2006 and ''Relocation: a practical guide'' in 2013.

High Court appointment

On 3 September 2019, Judd was appointed a judge of the High Court and assigned to the

Family Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...

. She took the customary damehood in the same year. In 2020, Judd was found to have made derogatory remarks about a mother to a clerk in a care proceedings case after forgetting to mute herself on a

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for imag ...

call, suggesting the mother was pretending to have a

cough A cough is a sudden expulsion of air through the large breathing passages that can help clear them of fluids, irritants, foreign particles and microbes. As a protective reflex, coughing can be repetitive with the cough reflex following three ph ...

; Judd's refusal to

recuse Judicial disqualification, also referred to as recusal, is the act of abstaining from participation in an official action such as a legal proceeding due to a conflict of interest of the presiding court official or administrative officer. Appli ...

herself following the comments led to her ruling being overturned by the Court of Appeal and the case was remitted to the High Court's Family Division for another judge to hear the case.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Judd, Frances Living people 1961 births Family Division judges Alumni of New Hall, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple People educated at The King's School, Canterbury Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire English King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel 21st-century English judges 21st-century British women lawyers 21st-century British women judges