Dame Parmjit Kaur "Bobbie" Cheema-Grubb DBE (born Parmjit-kaur Cheema; 6 October 1966), styled The Hon. Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, is a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

of the

King'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 ...

of the

High Court of Justice of England and Wales The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (Englan ...

. She is the first Asian woman to serve as a High Court judge in the United Kingdom.

Early life and education

Parmjit-kaur Cheema was born to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

Punjabi parents who came to the United Kingdom from

in the 1960s. She grew up in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, and attended City of Leeds School before studying law at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

Legal career

Cheema-Grubb was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1989 by

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

. In 2006, she became the first Asian woman to be appointed a Junior Treasury Counsel. In 2007, she became a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

. In 2013, she was appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

(QC). She served as a Senior Treasury Counsel and was authorised to sit as a deputy High Court judge. She chaired an Advocacy Training Council working group that produced the report "Raising the Bar: The Handling of Vulnerable Witnesses, Victims and Defendants in Court". Cheema-Grubb successfully acted for the prosecution against retired Church of England bishop Peter Ball for sexual abuse and against barrister and recorder

Constance Briscoe Constance Briscoe (born 18 May 1957 in England) is a former barrister, and was one of the first black female recorders in England and Wales. In May 2014, she was jailed for three counts of doing an act tending to pervert the course of justice in ...

for perverting the course of justice.

Judiciary

On 22 October 2015, Cheema-Grubb's appointment as a High Court judge was announced. She was sworn in on 25 November 2015.

Personal life

In 1990, she married Russell Grubb and they have three children. She is a practising

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheema-Grubb, Bobbie 1966 births Living people Alumni of King's College London Associates of King's College London Members of Gray's Inn 21st-century English judges British people of Indian descent British people of Punjabi descent People educated at Leeds City Academy Queen's Bench Division judges Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire English women judges Lawyers from Leeds

Early life and education

Legal career

Judiciary

Personal life

See also

References