Sonia Harris

The Honourable
Ms Justice Harris
DBE KC
Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
Justice of the High Court
Incumbent
Assumed office
30 September 2024
Appointed byCharles III
Personal details
BornSonia Ruth Harris
(1974-09-12) 12 September 1974 (age 52)
Coventry, UK
EducationUniversity of Oxford
University of British Columbia

Dame Sonia Ruth Harris (born 12 September 1974) is a British High Court judge.

Education

Harris attended Coventry Blue Coat Church of England School. In 1993, she received a BA degree in jurisprudence from Christ Church, Oxford, graduating with first-class honours.

In 2009, she earned an LLM degree at the Peter A. Allard School of Law of the University of British Columbia. Harris had visiting appointments at University of Victoria, Canada, and University of New South Wales, Australia, supported by a British Academy research grant.

Career

Academic

Harris was called to the bar (Lincoln's Inn) in 1998. From 1999 to 2006, she was a senior lecturer at Durham University. From 2006 to 2014, she was reader and then professor of family law and policy at Birmingham School of Law. Between 2012 and 2014, she was head of the University of Birmingham's Centre for Employability, Professional Legal Education and Research (CEPLER). While at Birmingham, she was an honorary door tenant at St Philips Chambers. In 2008, she became director of the Birmingham Law School LLM programme. Between January and April 2010, she was a visiting scholar at Stockholm University. In 2012, she was appointed special adviser to the House of Lords' Select Committee on Adoption. She is an honorary professor at the University of Birmingham.

Judge

In 2010, Harris was appointed a deputy district judge. In 2014, she was appointed a district judge. In 2018, she was appointed as circuit judge and was authorised to sit as a High Court judge in the Family Division. In 2019, she was appointed the designated family judge for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. In 2024, she was appointed senior circuit judge and designated family judge at Wolverhampton Combined Court Centre. Harris was on the advisory group of the Children's Rights Judgement. She is a member of the United Kingdom Association of Women Judges and the International Association of Women Judges.

On 30 September 2024, Harris was appointed a judge of the Family Division of the High Court following several retirements. She received the customary damehood in 2025.

Publications

Author

Contributor

Editor

Articles

Harris has contributed articles to:

References

  1. ↑ "Appointment of a High Court Judge: Harris". judiciary.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  2. ↑ "Appointment of a High Court Judge: Harris". judiciary.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  3. 1 2 "No. 64531". The London Gazette. 2 October 2024. p. 19258.
  4. ↑ "Sonia Harris-Short". inventaire.io. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  5. ↑ Alumni: Appointment of High Court Judge – website of Christ Church, Oxford
  6. ↑ Graduate Theses and Dissertations: The road back from hell? : First Nations, self-government, and the universal goal of child protection in Canada – website of the Peter A. Allard School of Law
  7. ↑ Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 25, Number 1, February 2003 – website of Project Muse
  8. ↑ Fenwick, Helen (2007). Judicial reasoning under the UK human rights act. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. vii. ISBN 978-0-521-87633-9.
  9. ↑ "Institute of International Public Law". American Journal of International Law (Vol. 98 No. 2 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. April 2004. p. 8.
  10. ↑ "Staff profile: Sonia Harris-Short". Holdsworth. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham. Spring 2009. p. 4.
  11. ↑ "Birmingham graduates earn junior lawyers award". kidderminstershuttle.co.uk. 5 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  12. ↑ McGlynn, Clare; Rackley, Erika; Hunter, Rosemary (2010). Feminist Judgements: From Theory to Judgements. London, UK: Bloomsbury. p. 340. ISBN 9781847317278.
  13. ↑ "Staff profile: Sonia Harris-Short". Holdsworth. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham. Spring 2009. p. 4.
  14. ↑ "Staff profile: Sonia Harris-Short". Holdsworth. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham. Spring 2009. p. 4.
  15. ↑ Select committee on Adoption legislation (2013). Adoption: Pre-legislative Scrutiny, Report, 2nd Report of Session 2012–13,Volume 127 (Report). London, UK: The Stationery Office. p. 80. ISBN 9780108550409. "Specialist Advisor: Professor Sonia Harris-Short, Professor of Family Law and Policy, University of Birmingham
  16. ↑ "New appointments of High Court judges". judicialappointments.gov.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  17. ↑ "CEPLER Professor becomes Judge". Holdsworth. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham. Summer 2014. p. 7.
  18. ↑ "Senior Circuit Judge, Designated Family Judge Appointment: Harris". judiciary.uk. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  19. ↑ Stalford, Linda (2017). Rewriting Children's Rights Judgements. Oxford, UK: Hart. p. v. ISBN 9781782259251.
  20. ↑ "Events". ukawj.org. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  21. ↑ "Appointment of a High Court Judge: Harris". judiciary.uk. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  22. ↑ Press release: Knighthoods and Damehoods conferred: January 2025 – website gov.uk of the HM Government
  23. ↑ Sonia Harris-Short (2012). "Aboriginal Child WElfare Life". British Yearbook of International Law (Vol. 82 No. 1 ed.). Oxford, UK: OUP. p. 525.
  24. ↑ "Sonia Harris-Short". ssrn.com. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  25. ↑ Sonia Harris-Short (December 2015). "Making and Breaking Family Life". Journal of Law and Society (Vol. 35 No. 4 ed.). Maryland, USA: Wiley. p. 594.
  26. ↑ Sonia Harris-Short (October 2003). "Judicial Approaches to the Human Rights Acts". The International and Comparative Law Quarterly (Vol. 52 No. 4 ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 549.
  27. ↑ Sonia Harris-Short (April 2005). "influencing traits before birth". International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family (Vol. 19 No. 1 ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 130.
  28. ↑ "Staff profile: Sonia Harris-Short". Holdsworth. Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham. Spring 2009. p. 4.