Mark Pelling KC

Mark Pelling KC accepts appointments as an international arbitrator and mediator. Additionally, he will serve as a judge in the DIFC Court of Appeal starting February 2026. Mark's appointment to the DIFC Court underscores his extensive experience in the region, developed over more than 27 years of practice as an English Barrister, alongside the substantial expertise he has gained in trying Commercial Court cases since 2019.

Throughout his career as a Barrister, Mark was frequently instructed in cases and provided advisory services in the GCC region, while also participating in arbitrations and similar roles in Bangladesh, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, India, Russia, and Switzerland. He has been called to the Bars of Gibraltar and Northern Ireland to handle specific specialist cases within those jurisdictions. His particular areas of expertise include banking and finance, competition, insurance, construction, engineering, technology, shipping, and cross-border fraud. Mark is also a qualified mediator and adjudicator and previously held the position of Chairman on the Board of Governors at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communications until 2000.

Raised and educated in North East London, Mark studied law at Kings College London and was called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of Middle Temple in 1979, where he received the Lloyd Jacob Exhibition in 1978. In 1979, he was honored with the Van Heydon de Lacey Memorial Exhibition by the Inns of Court School of Law. He practiced from Monckton Chambers and later 3VB, specializing in commercial and construction litigation both in the Courts of England and Wales and in arbitration settings, both in London and internationally. Mark was appointed a QC (now KC) in 2003 and became a bencher of the Honourable Society of Middle Temple in 2011.

In 2003, Mark was appointed as a Civil Recorder, and in February 2006, he began serving as a High Court Judge in the Queen's Bench and Chancery Divisions, Circuit Commercial Court, and Technology and Construction Court. He later also presided in the Administrative and Planning Courts of the High Court and the Upper Tribunal, Immigration and Asylum Chamber. In 2019, he was appointed Judge in Charge of the London Circuit Commercial Court (LCCC) and authorized to sit as a Judge of the Commercial Court. Since then, Mark has engaged in a significant amount of trial work in the Commercial Court and has overseen numerous arbitration claims related to challenges under sections 67-69 of the UK's Arbitration Act 1996. Mark has lectured extensively in the UK and abroad, earning recognition as an Honorary Bencher of the Honorable Society of the King's Inns in the Republic of Ireland. He is a specialist editor of the White Book, the authoritative textbook on Civil Procedure Rules, Practice Directions, and Specialist Court guides for the Courts of England and Wales. Additionally, he is the primary editor of the 2022 edition of the Circuit Commercial Court Guide and its 2023 revision.

Mark is widely recognized for his commitment to the court system and legal development. While fulfilling his permanent role as a Specialist Senior Circuit Judge, he has led initiatives related to the redeployment of judiciary from closing courts, the introduction of IT changes, and flexible hours. Upon becoming the LCCC’s lead judge, he implemented several changes, including making the LCCC a paperless court, standardizing case management directions, establishing a default remote hearing rule for hearings of a half-day or less while promoting such hearings for all interim applications of up to one day, creating a specialist sub-list with dedicated hearing windows for Arbitration Claims to ensure speedy hearings by full-time authorized judges, and instituting a monitoring system for judgments to guarantee that all judgments are delivered within three months or less. Mark has played a crucial role in managing the relationship between the LCCC and the Commercial Court, leading to a practice direction in 2025 that allows the commencement of most Commercial Court work valued at £7m or less in the LCCC and facilitates the transfer of such cases from the Commercial Court to the LCCC.