Spider Woman: Lady Hale, 24/11/2023

RTL Today - The Lisa Burke Show

Baroness Hale of Richmond is a pioneering female legal mind who became President of the Supreme Court in the U.K.
Baroness Hale of Richmond was invited to give the Sir Winston Churchill Memorial Lecture by the British Luxembourg Society this week; only the second woman in its history to have done so, the first being Margaret Thatcher.
Her talk was entitled “The Independence of the Judiciary and some of its Enemies”.
Baroness Hale is, in the words of criminal barrister Gareth Weetman, ‘legal royalty’. Her fame grew beyond the world of legal minds when, as President of the Supreme Court, she had to deliver the verdict that Boris Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was “void and of no effect”. She did so whilst wearing a demure black dress adorned with a striking spider brooch.
In this interview at RTL she wore her favourite brooch - two mating dragonflies.
Lady Hale’s life story is now available in her book, Spider Woman. I highly suggest you listen to it in audible format, with Lady Hale herself as narrator. This highlights the sparkle and keen sense of intelligence in her voice.
During this interview, we start with the ‘Spider’ story and move onto whether Lady Hale believes British Parliament is in favour of an independent judiciary, or whether she feels the Supreme Court justices are influenced by Government.
We also mention Suella Braverman, as the Supreme Court very recently ruled her idea of sending refugees coming to the UK to Rwanda as unlawful.
In Lady Hale's lifetime as an academic, Law Commissioner, High Court Judge, Lord Justice of Appeal, Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, and finally President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, Lady Hale has effected great change in the legal rights of women, children and those with mental health issues, amongst much else.
In this long discussion we have a glimpse into the life of an extremely agile mind that has developed British law for the benefit of a greater proportion of society.
Lady Hale believes we need more basic education of the judiciary processes in school in order to understand how law is there for the benefit of society; how things link together.
Her only daughter, Julia Hoggett, is CEO at the London Stock Exchange, and is another trailblazer in her own right.
Lady Hale's late second-husband, Julian Farrand, had the wonderful piece of advice: "All I want is more than enough".
Lady Hale is the middle of three daughters who all became Head Girl of their school in Yorkshire and the only ladies to marry 30 miles beyond their home village. Her parents were accomplished teachers and her father's sudden death aged just 49, when she was 13, developed a core of resilience and non-dependence on a man for income.
Baroness Hale was accompanied by Sir Nicholas Forwood KC.