Justices out on the stump

Lady Hale, the first woman justice on the Supreme Court bench, provided a fascinating glimpse of her career and the issues currently facing the court at a Justice Student Human Rights Network conference at the College of Law. Along with her customary good humour, there were flashes of the steel that you would expect from someone who got a starred first from Cambridge.

Few would cavil at her appointment to the Supreme Court on any test of “merit”. And she is firmly of the view that she should not be alone: the court should better reflect the diversity of its society. She says women on the bench matter because of the experience that they bring. Her empathy has certainly been identified as distinct: “Only Baroness Hale—a woman —had the decency to consider how my family and I feel. It’s as if the other law lords cannot contemplate our feelings at all,” said Mrs Gentle whose case for an inquiry into the Iraq War