Sir Marcus Alexander Smith (born 1 July 1967) is a British High Court judge.

Personal life and education

Smith was educated 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 f ...

, completing a BA in 1988 and a BCL in 1990. He also attended the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

. In 1998, he married Louise Merrett, with whom he has one son and one daughter.

Career

He 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 ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1991 and practised commercial and regulatory law from

Fountain Court Chambers Fountain Court Chambers is a set of commercial barristers based in the Temple in London and with offices in Singapore. It has 95 full members (in addition to door tenants), of whom 41 are silks. It is in the Magic Circle. The present Head of ...

, where he also completed his

pupillage A pupillage, in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Pakistan and Hong Kong, is the final, vocational stage of training for those wishing to become practising barristers. Pupillage is similar to an apprenticeship, during which bar ...

. From 1991 to 1994, he was a lecturer in law at Balliol. In addition to practice, he wrote two textbooks: ''Private International Law of Reinsurance and Insurance'' with Raymond Cox QC and Louise Merrett (2006) and ''The Law of Assignment'' with Nico Leslie (2007, 3rd edition 2018). He was a part-time Chair of 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 ...

in 2009 and was appointed

King's Counsel 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 2010.

High Court appointment

On 12 January 2017, he was appointed as a High Court judge and assigned to the

Chancery Division 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 (England ...

. He received his customary

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in the same year. He is on the Financial List, the

Patents Court The Patents Court is a specialist court within the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. It deals with disputes relating to intellectual property, including patents and registered designs. It also hears appeals again ...

, the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery) 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 s ...

. From 2019 to 2021, he was the Business and Property Courts Supervising Judge for the Midlands and Western circuit. In November 2021, he was appointed President of the Competition Appeals Tribunal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Marcus Living people 1967 births 21st-century English judges Knights Bachelor Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn Chancery Division judges English King's Counsel 21st-century King's Counsel