Judge of the Royal Court

Catherine Fooks

Catherine Fooks was born and brought up in Guernsey. She was educated at Blanchelande College and on leaving school studied at Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford and at the Inns of Court School of Law (Inner Temple).

She began pupillage at Randell & Loveridge and attended the University of Caen where she obtained the Certificat d'Etudes Juridiques Françaises et Normandes and was admitted as an Advocate of the Royal Court in July 1989. She became a partner in the practice of Randell & Loveridge in 2003 and Senior Partner in 2014. In her role as Senior Partner she took a key role in the operational and financial management and development of the firm and its individual practitioners. She became a Notary Public in 2000.

Catherine worked as a general practitioner across most areas of private client work including divorce and matrimonial ancillary relief (children and finances), crime, conveyancing, leases, small business transfers, wills and estates, guardianships, representation of children in public law cases, a range of employment, housing, planning and general applications e.g. liquor licensing. She also conducted a number of civil litigation cases.

She specialised in matrimonial work and crime (with a focus on white collar and complex sentencing cases) whilst still actively practising across many of the areas above and adding inquests to her practice. She had a particular interest in guardianships and capacity and was invited to attend a workshop on capacity as the Bar's representative.

Catherine also held roles on various committees including Children Law Review Committee (which led to the Children (Guernsey and Alderney) Law 2008), the Family Court User Group, FPAS Advisory Group, the sub-committee looking at Matrimonial Causes Law Reform and the Probate Working Group.

She also held the roles of Deputy Registrar (2009) and Registrar (2020) of the Ecclesiastical Court.

Catherine was sworn as Judge of the Royal Court in April 2021.

Her interests include music, theatre, books, travel, and cooking.