The Lady Chief Justice has appointed Mrs Justice Joanna Smith as Deputy President of the Business and Property Division on an interim basis, starting on 1 November.
The appointment continues until a new President of the Division is appointed.
Smith, a High Court judge assigned to the Chancery Division since 2021, will be responsible for the day-to-day management and leadership of the Division when Sir Colin Birss takes up his appointment as Master of the Rolls.
Her responsibilities include deciding on the deployment of judges and the allocation of cases, liaising with and overseeing the Supervising Judges of the Business and Property Courts outside London, and providing pastoral support for judges of the Division.
The Lady Chief Justice said Smith takes up the responsibility “shortly after the creation of the new Division”.
She added: “Her extensive judicial experience in the Business and Property Courts will enable her to help former Chancery and King’s Bench Division judges, along with newly appointed members of the High Court, to navigate this period of transition.”
Smith was called to the Bar in 1990 and appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2009. She became a Deputy High Court Judge in 2017 and a Judge of the High Court in 2021.
The judiciary said she has regularly sat in both the Chancery and King’s Bench Divisions, and also sits in the Technology and Construction Court and the Patents Court.
She was Chair of the Tribunal Procedure Committee from 2020 to 2024. She has chaired the Core Group of the Online Procedure Rule Committee since January 2026.
The Division came into effect on 1 October. It replaces the Chancery Division and stands alongside the King’s Bench Division and the Family Division as one of three divisions of the High Court.
Its head is the President of the Business and Property Division, a title that replaces the Chancellor of the High Court. Birss, as Chancellor, became President on 1 October.
Birss said in a speech at the LSE on 8 September that he would hold the role for one month before becoming Master of the Rolls on 1 November.
He said he would then retain strategic oversight of the Division until the new President is appointed, with a temporary deputy President in place in the meantime.
“The process for selecting a new President will start very soon and the appointment will be as soon as practicable,” Birss said.
The Judicial Appointments Commission said the King had approved Birss as Master of the Rolls and Lord Justice Warby as President of the King’s Bench Division.