Sir Ross Cranston

Sir Ross Cranston

Practice Overview

Sir Ross Cranston is a former Judge of the High Court of England and Wales, who sat in Commercial Court and in 2016 became the judge in charge of the Administrative Court.

He dealt with various matters relating to arbitration during his judicial career and is now an arbitrator, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, member of the LCIA and accepts appointments as an arbitrator and to conduct inquiries.

He is professor of law at the London School of Economics (LSE), where before appointment to the bench he was Sir Ernest Cassel professor of commercial law and Centennial professor of law. Prior to the LSE, he was director of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London.

Sir Ross was Solicitor-General for England and Wales from 1998 to 2001.

Sir Ross has served on missions for UNCTAD, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the World Bank, the IMF and the European Commission.

He is chair of trustees of the British and Irish Legal Information Institute, BAILII, which provides free access to British, Irish and European Union legal material.

In 2018 he chaired a committee of JUSTICE, which published a report, Immigration and Asylum Appeals-a Fresh Look.

In 2019 he was appointed to conduct an independent assurance review of Lloyds Bank’s handling of claims arising from the fraud committed at HBOS impaired assets unit based at Reading and Bishopsgate.

Sir Ross was educated in the University of Queensland, Harvard Law School and the University of Oxford, from which he holds the DCL.

He has held academic posts at the University of Warwick and the Australian National University, before he became Sir John Lubbock professor of banking law in the University of London and director of the Centre of Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. From 1992 he was at the LSE.

Sir Ross was with 3VB from 1987 and is now an associate member. He became a QC in 1998.

As an advocate Sir Ross appeared before the High Court, Court of Appeal, the House of Lords, the Court of Justice of the European Union and European Court of Human Rights.

For the Bar Council he chaired (and drafted the report) of the Working Party on Attorney-General, 2007, and chaired (and drafted the report and code), Code of Ethics for Lawyers, 2006.

Sir Ross served on missions for the Commonwealth Secretariat regarding Ghana, 1994 (savings law); UNCTAD, Ghana, 1991-1993 (competition and consumer law); World Bank, India, 1992 (security law); IMF, Bhutan, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, 1990-1992 (central bank and bank regulation laws); World Bank and Hungarian Government, 1990-1992 (banking law); World Bank and Sri Lankan Government, 1988 (debt recovery).

For the European Commission, Sir Ross was an expert advising on Review Justice Reform/Judicial System in accession and post-accession states, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016; European Commission, Functioning of the Judiciary, Turkey, 2005, 2006.

He is a fellow of the British Academy and has honorary LLDs from the Australian National University, the University of Greenwich and the University of Queensland.

Sir Ross was the president, International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law, 2004-2006 and president, Society of Public Teachers of Law (now Society of Legal Scholars), 1991-1993.

Sir Ross was an assistant Recorder/Recorder from 1991-1997, 2002-2007 qualified to sit in the Crown Court and the Country Court.

He was appointed as judge of the High Court judge of England and Wales in 2007 and sat in the High Court, the Court of Appeal (criminal and some civil) and the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber).

Sir Ross was the judge in charge of the Administrative Court from January 2016.

He continues to sit on a part-time basis in the Commercial and Administrative Courts.

Sir Ross is a member of 3VB’s International Advisory and Dispute Resolution Unit and accepts appointments as an arbitrator.

He is a member of the LCIA and a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators as well as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

During his judicial career, Sir Ross dealt with various matters relating to arbitration.

Cases in the arbitration field include:

  • Boskalis Offshore Marine Contracting BV v Atlantic Marine and Aviation LLP (The Atlantic Tonjer) [2019] EWHC 1213 (Comm); [2020] 1 All E.R. (Comm) 32
  • Nobiskrug GmbH v Valla Yachts Ltd [2019] EWHC 1219 (Comm)
  • A v B [2018] EWHC 2325 (Comm); [2019] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 385
  • W Bockstiegel GmbH & Co Reederei KG MS BBC Colorado v Chilena Consolidada Seguros Generales SA (The BBC Colorado) [2018] EWHC 3690 (Comm)
  • Nea Rota SA v Valencia Shipping Corp [2018] EWHC 2181 (Comm)
  • SEA2011 Inc v ICT Ltd [2018] EWHC 520 (Comm); [2018] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 463
  • KUFPEC Singapore Holding Ltd v Sanderson Capital Resources Ltd [2017] EWHC 2816 (Comm)
Winner: UK Bar Awards 2023
The Lawyer Awards 2022: Chambers of the Year