Event to celebrate ‘Pioneering Women in the Judiciary’

The former President of the UK Supreme Court will pay tribute to the women who, like her, broke through the glass ceiling of the legal profession at a University of Dundee event next week.

‘Pioneering Women in the Judiciary with Rt Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond’ forms part of Dundee Women's Festival 2022. The event will take place online at 7pm on Wednesday 9 March.

As President of the Supreme Court, Baroness Brenda Hale served as the most senior judge in the UK prior to her retirement in January 2020. Before becoming a judge, she worked as an academic lawyer and barrister as well as becoming the first woman member of the Law Commission, a statutory body which promotes legal reform.

She was appointed a High Court Judge in 1994, was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1999, and in 2004 became the first and only woman ‘Law Lord’ in the House of Lords, then the apex court in the United Kingdom. In 2009, the Law Lords were translated into the Supreme Court. Baroness Hale became its Deputy President in 2013 and its first woman President in 2017.

Speaking ahead of the Dundee event, Baroness Hale said, “Today’s women have a lot to learn from the brave pioneers of the past, not least in the law, so let’s salute and celebrate the first women judges.”

Baroness Hale is also President of the United Kingdom Association of Women Judges and a past President of the International Association of Women Judges.

This event is being coordinated by Dundee’s Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science (LRCFS) and the University of Dundee Chaplaincy.

Professor Niamh Nic Daeid, Director of LRCFS, said, “We are absolutely delighted that Baroness Hale has agreed to present at this special online event, which promises to be a truly memorable and inspiring evening coinciding with the Dundee Women’s Festival.”