Spider Woman

Brenda Hale, Rt Hon Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE, was born in Yorkshire and studied Law at Girton College, Cambridge. She was called to the Bar in 1969 and spent almost twenty years in academia alongside working as a part-time barrister.

In 1984, Lady Hale became the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission. During her nine years there, she would oversee critical reforms in family law. She was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1989.

Lady Hale became a judge in the Family Division of the High Court of Justice in 1994 and in 2004 was made the United Kingdom's first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. She was appointed Deputy President of the Supreme Court in 2013, and ultimately served as President from 2017 to 2020.