LONDON: The UK government today appointed Brenda Marjorie Hale as the first female president of the
Supreme Court, the senior-most judge of the country.
Baroness Hale, 72, will take charge as the head of Britain's top judging panel in September following the retirement of current president, Lord Neuberger, 10 Downing Street said in a statement.
"It is a great honour and a challenge," said Hale who has served as Neuberger's deputy since 2013.
She added: "I look forward to building upon his pioneering achievements, including developing closer links with each part of the United Kingdom, for example by sitting outside London, and improving the ways in which we communicate our work to the public.
"Recent high-profile cases mean that more people than ever before have heard of the Supreme Court, and we hope that this will help to create a broader understanding of how the judiciary serves society."
The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for civil cases in the UK, and criminal cases from England, Northern Ireland and Wales – which means it considers cases where an order had already been made in a lower court and is being challenged.
It most recently made headlines around the world with its Brexit decision earlier this year, directing British Prime Minister Theresa May to seek Parliament's approval before triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty which set the clock ticking on Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) in March this year.
Hale attended Cambridge University before teaching law at Manchester University. She qualified as a barrister and practiced at the Manchester Bar, where she specialised in family and social welfare law and founded the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, becoming the first woman to be appointed to the Law Commission in 1984.
Five years later, Lady Hale became a High Court judge - the first to have made her career as an academic and public servant rather than a practising barrister – and was the second woman ever promoted to the Court of Appeal and first female Law Lord.
She retains her links with the academic world as Chancellor of the University of Bristol, Visitor of Girton
College, Cambridge, and Visiting Professor of Kings College London.
Three new justices have also been appointed to the Supreme Court - Lady Justice Black, Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Lord Justice Brigg – who will take up the role when Lady Hale is sworn in officially as president on 2 October.
The appointments were confirmed the day after the judiciary published its diversity statistics, showing that
women and ethnic minorities remain severely under-represented in the UK's judicial system.