Sir Julian Bernard Knowles (born 26 January 1969) is a British High Court judge.

Educational and early life

Knowles was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and lived in

Wythenshawe Wythenshawe () is a district of the city of Manchester, England. Historically in Cheshire, Wythenshawe was transferred in 1931 to the City of Manchester, which had begun building a massive housing estate there in the 1920s. With an area of approx ...

council estate Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council estates, council housing, or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011 when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in so ...

. He was educated at comprehensives St John Plessington High School and

Xaverian College Xaverian College is a Roman Catholic college in Manchester, England, south of the city centre in Rusholme. Established in 1862, Xaverian College has become one of the most oversubscribed Sixth form college in Greater Manchester, along with Lore ...

. He studied at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...

and completed a BA in mathematics in 1990. At

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

he was offered a place to complete a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in mathematics, but decided to pursue law after volunteering as a

paralegal A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals ...

to help

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ( ...

inmates in Oklahoma.

Career

He was called to the bar at

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 associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1994. At the bar, he specialised in criminal law and public law and practised from

Matrix Chambers Matrix Chambers is a barristers' chambers in Gray's Inn London, Brussels, and Geneva. Founded in April 2000 by 22 barristers from 7 different chambers, it now has over 90 independent and specialist lawyers who work throughout the UK and interna ...

. He successfully represented the appellant in ''

R v Jogee was a 2016 judgment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom that reversed previous case law on joint enterprise. The Supreme Court delivered its ruling jointly with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which was considering an appeal ...

'' at the

UK Supreme Court 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 also appeared in the Pinochet extradition case and ''

R v Huhne ''Regina v Christopher Huhne and Vasiliki Pryce'' is the prosecution of the former British Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne MP, and his former wife, Vicky Pryce, the former Head of the Government Economic Service, for ...

''. In addition to practice, he was co-author of ''Nicholls, Montgomery, Knowles: The Law of Extradition and Mutual Legal Assistance'' in 2002 which was taken into a third edition and ''The Abolition of the Death Penalty in the United Kingdom: how it happened and why it still matters'' in 2015. He served as a recorder from 2009 to 2017 and

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 2011. In 2017, he was appointed a deputy High Court judge.

High Court appointment

On 2 October 2017, 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 took 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.

Personal life

In 2011, he married Dr Nicola Levitt, with whom he has one son. In his '' Who's Who'' entry, he listed his interests as "electronic dance music, looking in bookshops, lager, making bread". He is a supporter of

Manchester City F.C. Manchester City Football Club are an English football club based in Manchester that competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's (West Gorton), they became Ardwick Association Football ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knowles, Julian Living people 1969 births 21st-century English judges Knights Bachelor Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Members of the Inner Temple Queen's Bench Division judges People educated at Xavier College 21st-century King's Counsel English King's Counsel Lawyers from Manchester People from Wythenshawe