Sir John Patrick Cavanagh (born 17 June 1960) is a British High Court judge.

Early life end education

Born in Belfast, Cavanagh was educated at

Warwick School Warwick School is a selective, independent day and boarding school in Warwick, England in the public school tradition. Known until about 1900 as King's School, Warwick, it is believed to have been founded by Æthelflæd of Mercia in 914 A ...

. He studied at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

, receiving an MA in law and followed this by postgraduate study at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...

, where he completed an LLM.

Career

From 1979 to 1980, he worked as a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

at St Philip's School in Airdrie. Later he was an instructor in law at

University of Illinois College of Law The University of Illinois College of Law (Illinois Law or UIUC Law) is the law school of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a public university in Champaign, Illinois. It was established in 1897 and offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. ...

from 1983 to 1984, then a part-time lecturer in law at New College from 1984 to 1987. He 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 1985,

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 2001, and served as a recorder from 2004 to 2019; from 2013 to 2019, he was joint head of chambers at 11 King's Bench Walk. As a practitioner, he appeared before the

European Court of Justice The European Court of Justice (ECJ, french: Cour de Justice européenne), formally just the Court of Justice, is the supreme court of the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Unio ...

and the

Supreme Court of the United Kingdom The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (initialism: UKSC or the acronym: SCOTUK) is the final court of appeal in the United Kingdom for all civil cases, and for criminal cases originating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As the United ...

. He was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 2017.

High Court appointment

On 1 October 2019, Cavanagh 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 A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the same year. Since 2021, he has been

Presiding Judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, t ...

of the South Eastern Circuit, replacing Sir Andrew Edis who was promoted to the Court of Appeal.

Personal life

In 1989, he married Suzanne Tolley, with whom he has a son and three daughters.

Notable cases

Notable cases heard by Cavanagh include: * Murder of Sara Sharif

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cavanagh, John Living people 1960 births 21st-century English judges Knights Bachelor Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge Alumni of New College, Oxford Members of the Middle Temple Queen's Bench Division judges People educated at Warwick School