Sir Jeremy Lionel Cooke (born 28 April 1949), styled The Hon. Mr Justice Cooke, is a former

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

in the

Queen's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court of common law in ...

in the High Court starting from 2001 and was presiding judge for the

South Eastern Circuit The Circuit Court () of Ireland is an intermediate level court of local and limited jurisdiction which hears both civil and criminal matters. On the criminal side the Circuit Court hears criminal matters tried on indictment with a judge and jury ...

from 2007 to 2011, and judge in charge of the Commercial Court from 2012 to his retirement in 2016.

Career

Educated at

Whitgift School Whitgift School is an independent day school with limited boarding in South Croydon, London. Along with Trinity School of John Whitgift and Old Palace School it is owned by the Whitgift Foundation, a charitable trust. The school was prev ...

in Croydon and

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

, he became a solicitor in 1973 and was called to the Bar at

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 1976. He became a QC in 1990, working at 7

King's Bench Walk King's Bench Walk is a street in Temple, in the City of London. It is mainly made up of barristers' chambers. History King's Bench Walk is located in the Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court. The other three Inns of Court are Middle Temp ...

, where he was noted as a leading "commercial silk" by ''

The Lawyer ''The Lawyer'' is a legal business information product for law firm leaders, commercial lawyers, barristers A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advoc ...

'', who said he specialised in "energy, insurance and reinsurance, professional negligence and shipping and maritime law." He became head of chambers in May 2000, replacing Stephen Tomlinson, who left and became a high court judge. Cooke himself became a judge in 2001, being replaced by

Julian Flaux Sir Julian Martin Flaux (born 11 May 1955) is the Chancellor of the High Court. Early life Flaux was born on 11 May 1955 and was educated at the King's School, Worcester. He studied law at Worcester College, Oxford, graduating as an Oxford ...

QC and Gavin Kealey QC as head of chambers. He acted as an assistant recorder 1994-8 then as a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

1998–2001.

High Court

Cooke was knighted in 2001, and that October he became a High Court judge, Queen's Bench Division, Commercial. With Mr Justice Bean, he became a presiding judge over the South Eastern Circuit on 1 January 2007. He was succeeded by Mr Justice Sweeney on 1 January 2012. Among the cases he has presided over as judge were the 2007 royal blackmail plot, the trial of Armel Gnango for the murder of Magda Pniewska, the trial of

Roshonara Choudhry On 14 May 2010, Stephen Timms, the Labour MP for East Ham, was stabbed whilst holding a constituency surgery by Roshonara Choudhry, a 21-year-old British student and an Islamic extremist, in an attempt to kill him. She was found guilty of a ...

for stabbing

Stephen Timms Sir Stephen Creswell Timms (born 29 July 1955) is a British Labour Party politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham, formerly Newham North East, since 1994. He has served as Minister of State for Social Security and Disabi ...

MP and the 2011

Pakistan cricket spot-fixing scandal The Pakistan cricket spot-fixing scandal was a sports scandal that occurred during a Test match between England and Pakistan at Lord's, London, in August 2010. The scandal center on three members of Pakistan's national cricket team, who wer ...

. Between 2013 and 2016, he presided over the case of ''R v Tom Hayes'', which saw him hand the largest ever sentence for

white collar crime The term "white-collar crime" refers to financially motivated, nonviolent or non-directly violent crime committed by individuals, businesses and government professionals. The crimes are believed to be committed by middle- or upper-class indivi ...

in the UK. His last case was about the seizure of Hayes's assets, in which he ordered the payment of £878,806. He then retired in 2016. In July 2025, the

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC) is the final court of appeal for all civil cases in the United Kingdom and all criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as some limited criminal cases ...

overturned Hayes' conviction on appeal, finding that Cooke had given the jury inaccurate and unfair instructions that prevented Hayes from having a fair trial. He has also served as a judge for Singapore's International

Commercial Court Business courts, sometimes referred to as commercial courts, are specialized courts for legal cases involving commercial law, internal business disputes, and other matters affecting businesses. In the US, they are trial courts that primarily or ...

and the

Dubai International Financial Centre The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is a special economic zone in Dubai covering , established in 2004 as a financial hub for companies operating throughout the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA) markets. DIFC is regulated ...

Court.

Personal life

He was a member of

Harlequin F.C. Harlequins (officially Harlequin Football Club) is a professional rugby union club that plays in Premiership Rugby, the top level of English rugby union. Their home ground is the Twickenham Stoop, located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of ...

from 1970 to 1975. He has been vice-chairman of LICC Ltd since 1999 and was vice-president of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship from 2003–2010.

References

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Jeremy 1949 births British King's Counsel Living people English barristers 21st-century English judges People educated at Whitgift School Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford English King's Counsel Knights Bachelor Queen's Bench Division judges

Career

High Court

Personal life

See also

References

External links