Justice Fancourt: who is the judge presiding over Harry’s phone hacking case against MGN - is it his first?

It almost feels like lightning striking in the same place twice for one Justice Fancourt, also known as Sir Timothy Fancourt when he’s not wearing the traditional wig while residing over proceedings in a courtroom. Justice Fancourt is currently overseeing the case of a number of high-profile names against Mirror Group Newspapers, after a catalogue of potential “press intrusions” including a number of phone hackings - including Harry, Duke of Sussex.

But this isn’t his first rodeo, or court case should I say; as it stands, Justice Fancourt has previously resided over a court case regarding phone hacking by newspapers. That case dates back to 2021, when Sienna Miller and Paul Gascogine brought their case to the London high court against News Group Newspapers - now known as News UK. One of Miller's legal counsel during that case happened to be the same counsel Harry has employed - David Sherborne, to further echo the similarities between both cases.

In that scenario, Justice Fancourt demonstrated his strength at the bar, refusing a request by NGN to conduct parts of the hearing in private, stating to the lawyers at the time representing the media group that the allegations where already in the public domain, with Miller and a group of others settling out of court to conclude the case.

Who is Justice Fancourt?

Justice Fancort was born 30 August 1964, and though his place of birth has not been privy to public knowledge explicitly, it has been demonstrated that he did attend school at Whitgift School in Croydon, which would potentially indicate growing up in London during his childhood. 

Justice Fancourt studied law at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, and was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1987. He specialised in real property and landlord and tenant law before being elected to the Bar Council of England and Wales in 1996. In 2003, he was honoured with the title of Silk, denoting an elite lawyer. 

He served as a Recorder (Crime) from 2009 and sat at Harrow Crown Court until 2017. In 2012, he became the chairman of the Chancery Bar Association. In 2013, Justice Fancourt was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge, and he became a High Court Judge in 2017, assigned to the Chancery Division. He received a knighthood in May 2019

He has been the President of the Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal since August 2019, a position responsible for handling property and land disputes, which falls under his speciality in property litigation, which is practised while a partner at Falcon Legal.