Dame Sara Elizabeth Cockerill, DBE (born 7 November 1968) is a British High Court judge.

Early life and education

Cockerill was born in

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmi ...

, England and was educated at

Lady Eleanor Holles School Lady Eleanor Holles School (often abbreviated to LEH or LEHS) is an independent day school for girls in Hampton, London. It consists of a small junior school and a larger senior school, which operate from different buildings on the same site. It ...

, funded by the

Assisted Places Scheme The Assisted Places Scheme was established in the UK by the Conservative government in 1980. Children who were eligible were provided with free or subsidised places to fee-charging independent schools - based on the child's results in the school ...

. She studied at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and ...

and completed a first-class BA in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...

in 1989. She was an Eldon Scholar in 1990.

Career

In 1990, Cockerill was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, and practised at the bar from

Essex Court Chambers Essex Court Chambers is a set of commercial barristers in Lincoln's Inn Fields, central London. It has 96 tenants, of whom 45 are King's Counsels, also known as Silks. It is considered by legal commentators to be one of the 'Magic Circle' of Londo ...

and Four Essex Court, specialising in commercial law and compelled evidence. She

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 and served as a deputy High Court judge from 2016 to 2017. Having been from 2011 a contributor to the ''White Book'', she has been a member of its senior editorial board since 2020. She wrote ''Compelled Evidence in Civil Proceedings'' in 2011. In addition to legal publications, Cockerill has written books on medieval history, including ''Eleanor of Castile: the Shadow Queen'' in 2014 and ''Eleanor of Aquitaine: Queen of France and England, Mother of Empires'' in 2019.

High Court appointment

On 1 November 2017, she 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 ...

. She received the customary damehood in 2017. She is authorised to hear cases on the Financial List, at the

Competition Appeal Tribunal The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) of the United Kingdom was created by Section 12 and Schedule 2 to the Enterprise Act 2002 which came into force on 1 April 2003. The Competition Service is an executive non-departmental public body which ...

and the

Administrative Court An administrative court is a type of court specializing in administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are considered se ...

, and does general Queen's Bench work. Since 2020, she has been Judge in Charge of the

Commercial Court Commercial Court is a type of specialized court on commercial law. List of existing commercial courts * Commercial Court (Belgium) * Commercial Court (England and Wales) * Commercial Court (Victoria) The Commercial Court is a sub-division o ...

. During the

Venezuelan presidential crisis The Venezuelan presidential crisis is an ongoing political crisis concerning the leadership and the legitimate president of Venezuela; the office of the president has been contested since 10 January 2019, with the nation and the world divided ...

, Cockerill ruled that that Venezuela's gold reserves deposited in the Bank of England should remain frozen.

Personal life

In 1997, she married Nigel Eaton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockerill, Sara Living people 1968 births Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn People educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School Queen's Bench Division judges 21st-century English judges 21st-century British women lawyers 21st-century British women judges