Stephen Cobb

Sir Stephen William Scott Cobb (born 12 April 1962) is an English judge who has served as the President of the Family Division since 2026. He was a High Court judge from 2013 to 2025 and a Lord Justice of Appeal from 2025 to 2026.

Career Cobb is the son of the former High Court judge Sir John Francis Scott Cobb. He was educated at Winchester College and graduated from the University of Liverpool with a degree in law in 1984.

He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1985.

Cobb was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal on 12 June 2024, and took his place in July 2025. He was appointed to the Privy Council on 12 November 2025.

He was appointed President of the Family Division in May 2026.

Cobb was the Chairman of the Family Law Bar Association for two years from 2010 to 2011. In 2012 he was awarded the Family Law QC (as it then was) of the year prize at the Jordan Publishing's Family Law Awards.

Notable judgments In 2015, sitting in the Court of Protection, he ruled that a woman with six children and an IQ of 70 should be sterilized because another pregnancy would be a "significantly life-threatening event" for her and the foetus due to her having a very thin uterus.