Masters of the Bench

James Mellor read engineering and then production engineering at King’s College Cambridge, with spells of work in Somalia, the Congo, Germany, France and Iraq before returning to King’s in 1984/5 to do the six core subjects in law.  He was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in June 1986.  After pupillage with Michael Briggs and John Baldwin, he secured a tenancy in the IP Chambers of Thomas Blanco-White QC, then at Francis Taylor Building.  Chambers moved to 8, New Square, Lincoln’s Inn in 1992.  James took silk in 2006 and became Head of Chambers in March 2018.  He was appointed an Appointed Person for Trade Marks and Designs in 2015, a Deputy High Court Judge in 2020 and to the High Court bench on 8th February 2021, being sworn in online, as one of the specialist Judges in the Patents Court.  James is currently the Judge in charge of the Shorter Trials Scheme.

Outside work, James is a keen windsurfer, skier and mountain biker, with his three sons only being interested in the latter two sports.  He commutes to work by bike.  His better half, Jenny (M, 1987) is a cabinet maker.