Lady Hale

Lady Hale of Richmond is an English judge and legal academic, currently a Supreme Court Justice. She served as a High Court Judge between 1994-1999, a Lady Justice of Appeal between 1999-2004, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary between 2004-2009 and was appointed a Supreme Court Justice upon the creation of the Supreme Court in 2009.

Lady Hale was called to the bar (Gray's Inn) in 1969 and entered a career in academia, becoming a Professor of Law in 1986. She became a Queen's Counsel in 1989 and a Recorder later that year. In 1994 she was appointed to the Family Division as a High Court Judge. She became a Lady Justice of Appeal in 1999 and a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2004. When the Supreme Court was created, she was appointed as a Supreme Court Justice, and was both the youngest and only female member of the Court.

Hale is the most senior female judge in English legal history, the only woman ever to have been appointed to the House of Lords and only the second woman to be appointed to the Court of Appeal, following Lady Butler-Sloss's appointment in 1988.