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 The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ...

and the Head of Civil Justice in England and Wales.

Early life and education

Geoffrey Charles Vos was born on 22 April 1955 to Bernard Vos and Pamela Celeste Rose ( Heilbuth) Vos. He was educated at

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

, London, and

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

Career

Vos 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 ...

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1977, and practised in commercial and chancery litigation, both domestically and internationally. He took

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

in 1993 and served as chair of the Chancery Bar Association from 1999 to 2001 and as chair of the Bar Council in 2007.

Judge

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 Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

and

Guernsey Guernsey ( ; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; ) is the second-largest island in the Channel Islands, located west of the Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy. It is the largest island in the Bailiwick of Guernsey, which includes five other inhabited isl ...

between 2005 and 2009, and in the Court of Appeal of the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

between 2008 and 2009. Vos was appointed a High Court Judge in October 2009 and was assigned to the

Chancery 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 ...

. Vos was appointed as a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Just ...

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 The chancellor of the High Court is the head of the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. This judge and the other two heads of divisions (Family and King's Bench) sit by virtue of their offices often, as and wh ...

on 24 October 2016.

Master of the Rolls

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. 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. He is also a member of the LawtechUK Panel and chair of its UK Jurisdiction Taskforce. In March 2021, Sir Geoffrey disclosed that the

Civil Justice Council The Civil Justice Council is a UK non-departmental public body that advises the Lord Chancellor on civil law (common law), civil justice and civil procedure in England and Wales. It was established in 1998 under section 6 of the Civil Procedure A ...

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". In April 2021, he called for a greater use of digital technology to accelerate the dispute resolution process. 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".

Affiliations

Sir Geoffrey was chairman of the Social Mobility Foundation from 2008 to 2011. He was Treasurer of

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 ...

for 2023, was made an honorary bencher of the King's Inn, Dublin in 2021, and is an honorary fellow of

. He was awarded an honorary LLD degree by the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

in January 2023. He is a member of the Council and Executive of the

European Law Institute The European Law Institute (ELI) is an independent, non-profit organisation established in June 2011 to initiate, conduct, and facilitate research, make recommendations and provide practical guidance in the field of European legal development. Th ...

and of the Steering Group of the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts.

Notable decisions

Notable judicial decisions of Sir Geoffrey include: * – on the duties of a bank where a person acting fraudulently directs the bank to transfer money out of a company's account. * ''Director of the Serious Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources Corp Ltd'
[2018
EWCA Civ 2006">018">[2018
EWCA Civ 2006– on the scope of legal professional privilege. * ''Vodafone Ltd v Office of Communications'
[2020
EWCA Civ 183] – on the unjust enrichment of public authorities. * ''R (Officer W80) v Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct'
[2020
EWCA Civ 1301">020">[2020
EWCA Civ 1301– on the misconduct of an officer who shot dead a civilian. * ''Stanford International Bank Ltd v HSBC Bank Plc'
[2021
EWCA Civ 535] – on losses sustained by a company in liquidation. * ''Broad Idea International Ltd v Convoy Collateral Ltd'
[2021
UKPC 24">021">[2021
UKPC 24(dissenting) – on the court's power to grant injunctions. * ''HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Ltd'
021
EWCA Civ 1810– on claims by the

Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

for misuse of private information and copyright infringements. * ''Bell v The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust''br> 021">[2021
EWCA Civ 1363[Geoffrey Vos# ftn1">[1">021
EWCA Civ 1363">021">[2021
EWCA Civ 1363[Geoffrey Vos# ftn1">[1– on the prescribing of puberty blockers to under-18s with Gender dysphoria in children, gender dysphoria. * ''Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust'
[2022
EWCA Civ 12">022">[2022
EWCA Civ 12– on the availability of damages for psychiatric injury. * ''Barking and Dagenham LBC v Persons Unknown'
[2022
EWCA Civ 13] – on the granting of final injunctions against persons who were unknown and unidentified. * CN v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care#Judgment, ''R (CN) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care'']
[2022
EWCA Civ 86">022">[2022
EWCA Civ 86– a refusal to judicially review the infected blood support scheme for non-inclusion of those with chronic hepatitis B. * ''R (Counsel General for Wales) v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy'
[2022
EWCA Civ 181">022">[2022
EWCA Civ 181– on the embargo on publication of draft judgments. * ''Gemalto Holding BV v Infineon Technologies AG'
[2022
EWCA Civ 782] – on limitation for cases of discovering deliberately concealed mistakes. * Archie Battersbee case, ''Barts Health NHS Trust v Dance'']
[2022
EWCA Civ 935">022">[2022
EWCA Civ 935– on end-of-life treatment and the best interests of a child, Archie Battersbee case">Archie Battersbee. * ''The Executors of HRH Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh (Deceased) v Guardian News and Media'
[2022
EWCA Civ 1081] – on the sealing of the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, late Duke's will. * ''Belsner v Cam Legal Services Ltd'
[2022
EWCA Civ 1387">022">[2022
EWCA Civ 1387and Karatysz v SGI Legal LL
[2022
EWCA Civ 1388] – on legal costs. * ''AG (A Child) v Barnet LBC'
[2022
EWCA Civ 1505] – on the relationship between

diplomatic immunity Diplomatic immunity is a principle of international law by which certain foreign government officials are recognized as having legal immunity from the jurisdiction of another country.

and article 3 of the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

. * ''R (Good Law Project) v Prime Minister'
[2022
EWCA Civ 1580">022">[2022
EWCA Civ 1580– on government policy relating to the use of private emails and messaging services when undertaking government business. * ''R (Friends of the Earth) v Secretary of State for International Trade'
[2023
EWCA Civ 14] – whether the UK government acted in breach of the Paris Agreement in financing a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique. * (dissenting) – on damages for Whiplash (medicine), whiplash injuries.

Personal life

Sir Geoffrey married Vivien Mary Fieldhouse, in 1984. Sir Geoffrey is a member of the

Oxford and Cambridge Club The Oxford and Cambridge Club is a traditional London Gentlemen's club, club. Membership is largely restricted to those who are members of the universities of University of Oxford, Oxford and University of Cambridge, Cambridge, including men an ...

and an honorary member of the Worcestershire Golf Club. He is a member of both the Liberal Jewish Synagogue St John's Wood and the Herefordshire Jewish community.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vos, Geoffrey 1955 births Living people People educated at University College School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Members of the Inner Temple Chancery Division judges Lord justices of appeal Knights Bachelor Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom