Masters of the Bench

David studied at Manchester and Oxford Universities and was called to the Bar by Middle Temple in 1982. He was a Harmsworth Scholar. He had a varied common-law practice initially, but later specialised in banking and commercial law. He became a Recorder in 2001 and took silk in 2002. In 2005 he was appointed a Deputy High Court Judge and in 2007 he left his chambers at Fountain Court to be become a full-time specialist circuit judge in Manchester. In 2009, he was made a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn. He became the judge in charge of the London Mercantile Court (as it was then known) in 2015 and was appointed a High Court Judge (QBD) in October 2018. He is a designated judge of the Commercial and Technology and Construction Courts. He has worked on many of the recent innovations in civil court procedure including concurrent expert evidence, costs budgeting, costs capping, the introduction of the Business and Property Courts, and most recently a review of witness statements. He became a tutor at the Judicial College in 2012 and has recently stepped down as Course Director of the Specialist Jurisdictions Course. He is currently an Honorary Lecturer in Law at Manchester University.