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Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond

Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond

Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE, PC, known as Lady Hale (born 31 January 1945), is a British judge serving as President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom since 2017.[1]

In 2004, she joined the House of Lords as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. She is the only woman to have been appointed to this position. She served as a Law Lord until 2009 when she, along with the other Law Lords, transferred to the new Supreme Court. She served as Deputy President of the Supreme Court from 2013 to 2017.

On 5 September 2017, Hale was appointed as President of the Supreme Court, and was sworn in on 2 October 2017. She is the third person and first woman to serve in the role, which was established in 2009. Hale is one of three women to have been appointed to the Supreme Court (alongside Lady Black and Lady Arden).

Since 30 July 2018, Hale has been a non-permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong. Alongside Beverley McLachlin, she is the first woman to serve in that court. Hale has also been Honorary President of the Cambridge University Law Society since 2015.[2]

The Right Honourable

The Baroness Hale of Richmond

DBE PC
President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Assumed office
5 September 2017
MonarchElizabeth II
DeputyLord Mance
Lord Reed
Preceded byLord Neuberger
Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
In office
28 June 2013 – 4 September 2017
PresidentLord Neuberger
Preceded byLord Hope
Succeeded byLord Mance
Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
Assumed office
1 October 2009
Preceded byPosition created
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office
12 January 2004 – 30 September 2009
Preceded byLord Millett
Succeeded byPosition eliminated
Lady Justice of Appeal
In office
1999–2003
High Court Judge Family Division
In office
1994–1999
Appointed byElizabeth II
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal (Judicial Peer)
In office
12 January 2004 – 1 October 2009
7th Chancellor of the University of Bristol
In office
2004–2017
Preceded bySir Jeremy Morse
Succeeded bySir Paul Nurse
Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong
Assumed office
30 July 2018
Personal details
Born
Brenda Marjorie Hale

(1945-01-31)31 January 1945
Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Spouse(s)
  • Anthony Hoggett
    (m. 1968;div. 1992)
  • Julian Farrand
    (m. 1992)
Children1
Alma materGirton College, Cambridge

Early life

Brenda Marjorie Hale[3] was born on 31 January 1945 in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. Both her parents were headteachers. She has two sisters. Hale lived in Redcar until the age of three when she moved with her parents to Richmond, North Yorkshire. She was educated at the Richmond High School for Girls (now part of Richmond School), and later studied at Girton College, Cambridge (the first from her school to attend Cambridge), where she read law. Hale was one of six women in her class, which had 110 men, and graduated with a starred first and top of her class.[4][5]

After becoming an assistant law lecturer at the Victoria University of Manchester (now the University of Manchester), she was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1969, topping the list in the bar finals for that year.[4][5]

Working part-time as a barrister, Hale spent 18 years mostly in academia, becoming Professor of Law at Manchester in 1986. Two years earlier, she became the first woman and youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission, overseeing a number of important reforms[6] in family law during her nine years with the Commission. In 1989, she was appointed Queen's Counsel.[4]

Judicial career

Hale was appointed a Recorder (a part-time circuit judge) in 1989, and in 1994 became a judge in the Family Division of the High Court of Justice (styled The Honourable Mrs Justice Hale).[4] Upon her appointment, as is convention, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE). In 1999, Hale followed Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss to become only the second woman to be appointed to the Court of Appeal (styled The Right Honourable Lady Justice Hale), entering the Privy Council at the same time.[7]

On 12 January 2004, she was appointed the first female Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and was created a life peer as Baroness Hale of Richmond, of Easby in the County of North Yorkshire,[8] under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876.[9]

In June 2013, she was appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom to succeed Lord Hope of Craighead.[9] In September 2017, she was appointed President of the Supreme Court to succeed Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury.[10]

On 21 March 2018, the Hong Kong judiciary announced her nomination as a non-permanent judge from other common law jurisdictions of the Court of Final Appeal. Her appointment was accompanied by the appointments of Andrew Cheung and Beverley McLachlin.[11] The appointment was gazetted by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Carrie Lam and took effect 30 July 2018 for a three-year term.[12]

In December 2018, during an interview to mark the centenary of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, Lady Hale argued that the judiciary needed to become more diverse so that the public have greater confidence in judges. Hale called for a more balanced gender representation on the UK's highest court and swifter progress promoting those from minority ethnic backgrounds and with “less privileged lives”. However, Hale objected to the idea of positive discrimination because “no one wants to feel they have got the job in any way other than on their own merits”.[13]

Selected cases

  • The Public Prosecution Service v William Elliott and Robert McKee [2013] UKSC 32

  • Secretary of State for the Home Department v MB and AF [32] [2007] UKHL 46

  • Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF and others [33] [2009] UKHL 28

  • R (Miller) v The Prime Minister and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland [2019] UKSC 41

Significant lectures

On 10 September 2015, she delivered the Caldwell Public Lecture at the University of Melbourne, Australia, on the topic "Protecting Human Rights in the UK Courts: What are we doing wrong?".[14]

On 2 November 2018, she delivered an SLS Centenary Lecture at the University of Essex, United Kingdom, on the topic of "All Human Beings? Reflection on the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights"

Honorary degrees

In 2006, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws (LLD) by the University of Hull.[15] The following year, she was awarded a LLD by the University of Reading.[16]

In 2010, Hale was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Salford. The university's law building is named after her.[17] In 2011, Hale was awarded a LLD by the University of Kent.[18][19]

In 2016, she was awarded a LLD by the University of Worcester.[20] In 2018, she was awarded a LLD by York St John University.[21]

In 2019, she was awarded a LLD by Edge Hill University.[22] and a LLD by University of Bradford[23]

Arms

Coat of arms of Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond
Hale of Richmond Lozenge.png
Notes
Upon joining the House of Lords, Hale decided to apply for a personal coat of arms.[24]
Adopted
16 June 2004[25]
Coronet
That of a Baroness
Motto
Omnia Feminae Aequissimae
(lit. Women are equal to everything)
Symbolism
The crowned frog supporters represent the frog prince, which refers to her husband and her large collection of ceramic frogs. (“It’s an inside joke between us. My husband was my frog prince. Now people give us frogs.”)[26] The castles on her arms represent Richmond, while the scrolls symbolise the law.[24]

Personal life

In 1968, Hale married Anthony Hoggett, a fellow law lecturer at Manchester, with whom she had one daughter. The marriage was dissolved in 1992. In the same year, she married Julian Farrand, former dean of the law faculty at Manchester.[4][27]

In April 2018, Hale featured as a celebrity judge on BBC cooking show MasterChef.[28]

References

[1]
Citation Linkweb.archive.orgSenior Judiciary List Archived 18 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Ministry of Justice.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[2]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"CULS Lecture: Lady Hale – 'The Life of A Lady Law Lord'". Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. 3 February 2016. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[3]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Biographies of the Justices". Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[4]
Citation Linkweb.archive.orgDyer, Clare (9 January 2004). "The Guardian profile: Lady Brenda Hale". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[5]
Citation Linkwww.newstatesman.comStokel-Walker, Chris (24 September 2019). "Lady Hale, the gently determined president of the Supreme Court that overruled Boris Johnson". New Statesman. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[6]
Citation Linkweb.archive.orgYonette Joseph; Ceylan Yeginsu (24 September 2019). "Lady Hale, U.K. Supreme Court Judge, Speaks Calmly and Brings Down the Hammer". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[7]
Citation Linkweb.archive.orgSlawson, Nicola (21 July 2017). "Brenda Hale to become first female president of supreme court – reports". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[8]
Citation Linkwww.thegazette.co.uk"No. 57179". The London Gazette. 15 January 2004. p. 503.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[9]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Lady Hale to be next Deputy President of Supreme Court". Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. 24 June 2013. Archived from the original on 5 February 2014. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[10]
Citation Linkwww.thegazette.co.uk"No. 62054". The London Gazette. 19 September 2017. p. 17466.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[11]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Top court gets new judges". The Standard. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[12]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Hong Kong Gazette Notice GN5815/2018" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 September 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[13]
Citation Linkweb.archive.orgBowcott, Owen (1 January 2019). "White and male UK judiciary 'from another planet', says Lady Hale". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 1 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[14]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Caldwell Public Lecture Archived 9 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine", Trinity College Events [online], accessed, 25 August 2015.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[15]
Citation Linkwww.hull.ac.uk"Supreme Court President inspires University of Hull students". University of Hull. 5 March 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[16]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Presentation of the Rt Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond" (PDF). University of Reading. July 2007. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[17]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Pioneering judge among Salford honorary graduates". University of Salford. Archived from the original on 6 January 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[18]
Citation Linkblogs.kent.ac.ukHeggie, Alice (6 October 2017). "Kent Honorary Graduate sworn in as first female president of the UK's Supreme Court". University of Kent. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[19]
Citation Linkweb.archive.org"Baroness Brenda Hale of Richmond". University of Kent. Archived from the original on 19 October 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM
[20]
Citation Linkwww.worcester.ac.uk"President of Supreme Court to Consider Moral Courage in the Law in Worcester Lecture". University of Worcester. 14 February 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
Sep 29, 2019, 9:23 AM