| The Right Honourable The Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE QC PC FBA |
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| Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom | |
| Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1 October 2009 |
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| Monarch | Elizabeth II |
| Preceded by | Position created |
| Lord of Appeal in Ordinary | |
| In office January 2004 – 30 September 2009 |
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| Preceded by | The Lord Millett |
| Succeeded by | Position eliminated |
| Lord Justice of Appeal | |
| In office 1999–2003 |
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| High Court Judge | |
| In office 1994–1999 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | Brenda Marjorie Hale 31 January 1945 Yorkshire, England, UK |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Anthony Hoggett (divorced; 1 child) Julian Farrand |
| Alma mater | Girton College, Cambridge |
| Occupation | Judge |
| Profession | Barrister |
Brenda Marjorie Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE, QC, PC, FBA (Hon) (born 31 January 1945)[1] is a British legal academic, barrister, judge and a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
In 2004, she joined the House of Lords as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary. She was the only woman ever 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 remains the most senior female judge in the history of the United Kingdom.
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Hale was born in Yorkshire in 1945, one of three daughters. Both of her parents became headteachers. She was educated in Richmond at the Richmond High School for Girls, and later studied at Girton College, Cambridge, where she read Law and graduated with a starred first and top of her class. After becoming assistant lecturer in Law at the University of Manchester, she was called to the Bar in 1969, topping the list in the bar finals for that year.
Working part time as a barrister, Hale spent eighteen years working mostly in academia, finally becoming Professor of Law at Manchester in 1986. Two years earlier, she had achieved the distinction of becoming the first woman and youngest person ever to be appointed to the Law Commission, overseeing a number of important reforms in family law during her nine years with the Commission. In 1989, she was made a Queen's Counsel.
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. 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, entering the Privy Council at the same time.
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,[2] under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876.
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 which year she married Julian Farrand, former Professor of Law at Manchester and colleague of Hale's on the Law Commission.
Hale is Chancellor of the University of Bristol and Visitor of Girton College, Cambridge, to which positions she was elected in 2004. She is a member of the Athenaeum Club, London. Lady Hale was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Salford. Salford law school building is also named after her.
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Lord Millett |
Lord of Appeal in Ordinary 2004 – 2009 |
Abolished |
| New creation | Justice of the Supreme Court 2009 – present |
Incumbent |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother |
Visitor of Girton College, Cambridge 2004 – present |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Sir Jeremy Morse |
Chancellor of the University of Bristol 2004 – present |
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