Joanne Briggs has worked in the law for nearly four decades. She was called to the Bar in 1993 and practised mainly in family law and crime, representing clients as diverse as the Clifton suspension bridge and Buckingham Palace “Superhero” Fathers 4 Justice protesters, members of the Exclusive Brethren Christian separatist sect, and Angela Cannings, whose convictions for the murders of her infant children were quashed by the Court of Appeal. Joanne was appointed as a part-time judge in 2002, and has been a full-time judge in Health, Education and Social Care since 2009, specialising in mental health. Joanne is 60, and lives near the sea in East Sussex.
