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On Wednesday 17 December, Westminster City School was honoured to welcome The Rt Hon. Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE, former President of the Supreme Court and the first woman to ever sit as a Justice on the UK’s highest court.

Baroness Hale spoke to Year 12 students in assembly before sitting down with Years 12 and 13 students who are on our Pathways to Law programme for an extended Q&A. The session offered students the opportunity to engage directly with one of the most influential figures in British law.

She spoke about growing up in a small village in North Yorkshire and becoming the first girl at her school to study Law and progress to Cambridge University. Additionally, she gave an insight into how different the legal profession was when she began her career, explaining that in 1994 it was overwhelmingly male and dominated by those from independent school backgrounds.

Students also heard about her career path, including her time teaching Law at the University of Manchester, to spending five years as a High Court judge and later being promoted to the UK’s highest court, where she served for 26 years. During most of that time, she was the only woman on the top court, before becoming President of the Supreme Court from 2017 to 2020.

During the Q&A, students asked a variety of strong questions on police powers, constitutional reform, whether the UK should have a codified constitution and how judges decide which cases reach the Supreme Court. Baroness Hale referred to her own experience, including cases on the Hunting Act and landmark constitutional decisions such as the Miller Brexit case to show how legal decisions affect real lives.

James, who is in Year 13 at Westminster City School, said:

“I appreciated Baroness Hale’s honesty about how the law used to be dominated by men who had spent their lives moving from quadrangle to quadrangle. It made her own career feel more significant and showed why diversity in the legal system matters.

“I also found her discussion of one of her hardest cases memorable, where she had to decide whether a grandparent caring for a child should become the child’s legal parent or remain their carer. It showed how legal decisions can have serious human consequences.”

Baroness Hale also emphasised the importance of diversity in the judiciary, highlighting that while progress has been made with women now making up 44% of judges, there is still work to do so that the legal system reflects today’s society.

Alongside legal insight, she offered practical advice to our aspiring lawyers, speaking about the importance of hard work, clear essay structure, strong reasoning skills and the key to having a good memory in order to be able to succeed in law.

Year 12 student, Jagroop who is a part of the Pathways to Law programme, added:

“I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Baroness Hale and being graced with the opportunity to join the Q&A session. She was very thoughtful when considering our questions alongside taking the time to provide us with informative answers with her expertise as a Judge of the Supreme Court. She also shared her experiences and challenges she overcame to become a prestigious Judge as well as how we should not shy away from pursuing the same if we are passionate about law.”

At the end of the session, Baroness Hale told students that she was impressed by the quality of their questions to the extent that she didn’t want the Q&A to end.

We are grateful to Baroness Hale for giving her time and for helping our students to see and understand the kind of future that is possible for them.