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19 November 2021
Issue: 7957 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Book review: Spider Woman: A Life—by the former President of the Supreme Court

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"A wonderful story. Wonderfully gifted, Lady Hale saw her opportunities and she took them. She has made a difference and inspired others to do so too"

Author: Lady Hale

Publisher: Bodley Head

ISBN: 9781847926593

RRP: £20

At the beginning of this book it looked like being a Denning fairy story: a bright little girl living by the village green in a little village in rural north Yorkshire ended up as President of the Supreme Court. But although it had the elements of a fairy story, it was all true. Top law student at Cambridge; quality law academic at Manchester; joint author of book on Women and the Law (very significant); law professor; getting going at the Bar; Law Commissioner, fundamentally reforming child law; judge, Court of Appeal, House of Lords and Supreme Court (first woman ever), President! If there ever was a ‘stop Brenda’ (henceforth she is Brenda) campaign it signally failed. And she certainly stopped Boris in his tracks in Parliament.

Brenda is first

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NEWS
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Cheshire West test overruled
Cheshire West, which established an ‘acid test’ for deprivation of liberty safeguards, has been overturned by the Supreme Court
High Court transformed in historic realignment
The Chancery Division and other segments of the High Court are to be replaced by a new Business and Property Division (BPD), in a major civil justice shakeup
SRA toughens up checks on firms
Law firms that hold client money will need to file annual accountants’ reports and make a declaration, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) confirmed this week
Judges sanctioned for delays in delivery
Two district judges and a tribunal judge have been sanctioned for delays in delivering judgments and orders
Private equity investment into UK firms drops by half
Private equity (PE) investment into UK law firms halved to £250m last year, but deal volume rose, according to research by Acquira Professional Services’ Momentum private equity market tracker
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