Sir Mark Potter
Call date
1963
Silk date
1981
Sir Mark Potter was called to the Bar in 1963 and was appointed Queens Counsel in 1981.
He practised at Fountain Court and specialised in litigation and arbitration in the fields of insurance, banking, agency, international sale and carriage of goods, shipping and commodity and energy disputes. Also in the field of professional negligence.
In 1988 he was appointed to the High Court (Commercial Court), trying all types of commercial disputes and arbitration appeals. He dealt with a number of cases in the Lloyds litigation in the 1990s. In 1995, he was appointed judge in charge of the Commercial Court in its Centenary year, prior to his promotion to the Court of Appeal in 1996.
As an appellate judge he sat in the full range of civil and commercial appeals and continued to do so for a proportion of each term throughout his appointment as Head of Family Justice between 2005 and 2010.
In April 2010, Sir Mark Potter retired as a judge of the Court of Appeal, President of the High Court Family Division and President of the Court of Protection and returned to the field of Commercial Law as an arbitrator, with appointments to date in insurance (including Bermuda form), international share purchase agreement and energy disputes.
Sir Mark has wide knowledge of regulatory matters. At the bar, he served successively as Chairman of the Bar Professional Conduct Committee and the Bar Public Affairs Committee. In the latter role, he devised (with Piers Ashworth QC) and introduced the Bar Mutual Insurance Scheme. From 2000-2005, he was Chairman of the Lord Chancellor’s Consultancy Panel advising the government on the reform, regulation and organisation of the legal profession. As Head of Family Justice he encouraged the promotion of out of court mediation and conciliation for the settlement of family disputes and introduced procedural reforms to that end.
Appointments
High Court Judge Queen’s Bench Division (Commercial Court) 1988-1996
Lord Justice of Appeal 1996-2010
President of Family Division and Head of Family Justice 2005-2010
President Court of Protection 2007-2010
Chairman of Chancellor's Legal Services Advisory (subsequently Consultancy) Panel 2000-2005, advising government during a busy period of change and modernization in the supply of legal services.
Other Appointments
Judge in Charge of Anglo-Pakistani judicial relations 2001-2004
President PSU (Personal Support Unit), a charity providing personal support for litigants in person
Trustee of Somerset House
Trustee of Great Ormond Street Hospital
Education
Scholar and Honorary Fellow, Gonville and Caius College Cambridge
BA Law Tripos 1960
MA1963
Honorary Fellows, Kings College London
Other experience
Military Service: 15 Medium Regiment RA 1955-1957 (commissioned 1956) 289 Light Parachute Regiment RHA (TA) 1958-1964