Hale is to be first female Supreme Court president

Baroness Hale is to become the first female president of the Supreme Court, taking over from Lord Neuberger in October this year. She will earn £225,000 a year as head of the court.

Hale’s background is in family law, both as a practitioner and an academic. She was called to the Bar in 1969, made a QC in 1989, and appointed as deputy president of the Supreme Court in 2013.

A longstanding champion of diversity in the profession generally, and the judiciary specifically, she said of her most recent appointment: “It is a great honour and a challenge to be appointed to succeed Lord Neuberger. 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. While I of course look forward to working alongside all my colleagues, it is a particular pleasure for me to be taking up the post at the same time as we welcome only the second ever woman to sit on the UK’s top appeal court.”