High Court boosted as DCA appoints David Kitchin QC
Patent star David Kitchin QC has capped off an excellent year by being appointed as a High Court judge in the Chancery Division, it was announced last week.
Kitchin is one of five new High Court judges appointed by the Department for Constitutional Affairs. Also joining him on the bench are Cloisters Chambers' Brian Langstaff QC, Keating Chambers' Vivian Ramsey QC, Brick Court Chambers' David Lloyd Jones QC and Caroline Swift QC of Manchester set Byrom Street Chambers. All were appointed to the Queen's Bench Division.
Kitchin, who bills more than £1m per year, will be a major loss to his set 8 New Square, but he will be a boost to the court following the recent resignation of patent specialist Mr Justice Laddie.
The announcement comes after a particularly successful 12 months for Kitchin, The Lawyer's Barrister of the Year 2005. He secured victory for Aventis and Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT) in the groundbreaking House of Lords case of Kirin-Amgen v Aventis & TKT in October 2004.
There will be changes to the leadership of both Cloisters and Keating Chambers following the appointments of employment specialist Langstaff and Keating's construction and engineering silk Ramsey.
Meanwhile, Brick Court's Lloyd Jones comes fresh from his role on the Hutton Inquiry and Swift is appointed to the bench after spending the last four years as lead counsel to the Shipman Inquiry.
