Fiona Woolf

Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf CBE
Fiona Woolf at the 2013 Lord Mayor's Show
Personal details
Born	Catherine Fiona Swain (1948-05-11) 11 May 1948
Nationality	British
Spouse(s)	Nicholas Woolf (FCA)Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales#Membership categories[1][2]
Residence	London
Religion	Christian (Anglican)
Website	www.fionawoolf.com

City of London coat of arms

Catherine Fiona Woolf CBE (née Swain; born 11 May 1948), a British lawyer, is the 686th Lord Mayor of London (for 2013-14) and serves as the global ambassador for UK-based financial and business services. She was president of the Law Society of England and Wales for 2006–07. She is a member of the Competition Commission (UK), alderman for the ward of Candlewick in the City of London since 2007 and was Sheriff of the City of London for 2010–11. On 29 September 2013, she won the election to become Lord Mayor of London, only the second time in its 800-year history that a woman has held this office.^[3] She succeeded Roger Gifford as Lord Mayor on 8 November 2013 during the traditional "Silent Ceremony" at London's Guildhall.^[4]

Education

Woolf attended St Denis School (now part of St Margaret's School), Edinburgh. She studied law at Keele University (BA) and subsequently gained a diploma in comparative law (QLD) at the University of Strasbourg.

Career

Woolf qualified as a solicitor in 1973 and worked as an assistant at Clifford Chance until 1978. She then moved to CMS Cameron McKenna where she became a partner in 1981, holding the position until 2004. She now acts as a consultant to that firm^[5] and is a senior adviser to London Economics International LLC.

In 2001–02 Woolf was awarded a senior fellowship at the Harvard Kennedy School's Center for Business and Government.^[6] While at Harvard, Woolf wrote a book on attracting investment in electricity transmission systems: Global Transmission Expansion: Recipes for Success (2003).^[7]

Woolf is an honorary bencher of Middle Temple, a Court Assistant of the Solicitors' and the Wax Chandlers' companies, and an honorary court assistant of the Worshipful Company of Builders Merchants. She is also a liveryman of the Plumbers', Arbitrators', Marketors' and the Tax Advisers' companies.

Dame Mary Donaldson was the first woman to serve as Lord Mayor; she was elected in 1983.^[8] In a Telegraph profile article of Woolf by Cathy Newman, noting a considerable disparity between the sexes in senior positions in the City of London, Woolf said that her campaigning theme during her year as Lord Mayor will be the promotion of more women to executive posts.^[3]

Honours

Woolf, for her charitable activities and enterprise, has been awarded:

• CBE (2002)
• DStJ (2013)

Charitable work and other interests

Woolf is involved in supporting the work of a number of charitable and other organisations. She is a trustee of Raleigh International,^[9] a governor of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama,^[10] a trustee of the Friends of Oxford Shakespeare Company,^[11] and a member of the Parochial Church Council of St Clement Eastcheap. She is also chair of the Chelsea Opera Group Trust,^[12] and is actively involved in the operation, fundraising and co-ordination of its volunteers, as well as being a member of its choir.

References

External links

• Fiona Woolf's website
• Lord Mayor of London
• Competition Commission (United Kingdom)
• Law Society of England and Wales
• Raleigh International
• Chelsea Opera Group
• Friends of the Oxford Shakespeare Company
• The Guildhall School of Music and Drama