Women in Law Dinner By Mair Williams, 187 Fleet Street Chambers Alison Woodward, Louise Bancroft, and Beth Morton
The United Kingdom Association of Women Judges (UKAWJ) joined forces with the Association of Women Barristers (AWB) and the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) to host a dinner for its members across the Circuit. The event was sponsored by the Northern Circuit and by the Manchester office of Mills & Reeve solicitors. Over eighty guests attended the dinner at the Midland Hotel on Thursday 25th October, including a number of men, as the UKAWJ welcomes applications for membership from men and women alike. The Guest of Honour was Baroness Hale of Richmond, who is the President of the UKAWJ. Baroness Hale’s speech addressed the inequalities within the judiciary with particular reference to gender inequality. She expressed both a strong wish for more women to consider applying for judicial office, and for the judiciary at all levels to become more representative of the people it serves. She described her own “unusual” legal career prior to judicial appointment. This started as a barrister on the Northern Circuit, followed shortly by practice as an academic lawyer at Manchester
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University (where she was appointed Professor of Law in 1986), and as a law reformer at the Law Commission, before she became a judge in the Family Division of the High Court of Justice in 1994. Lady Hale joined the House of Lords as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in January 2004, and served as a Law Lord until 2009 when the Law Lords transferred to the new Supreme Court. Baroness Hale continues to be the only woman to have been appointed to this position - she clearly that she does not want to be the last!! The dinner provided a good opportunity for members of the three organisations to meet and/or catch up, and for the barristers and solicitors present to find out more about the pros and cons of judicial office from the members of the judiciary who attended, some of whom had kindly travelled from Leeds, Derby, London and beyond. The evening concluded with a goody bag for all guests and a raffle, with some very yummy prizes which had been very kindly donated by local firms and businesses, and by 7 Harrington Street chambers, St John’s Buildings and Kenworthy’s chambers. The raffle raised £1650.00 for 2 local charities, the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, and ‘Genesis’ which is a Manchester based breast cancer prevention charity. The event was a great success thanks to the generosity of the sponsors, the enthusiasm of those who attended, and the fabulous organising team which had the benefit of including our own HHJ Roddy and Sally Penni from Kenworthy’s chambers. Sally is the AWB Northern Circuit representative, and would welcome