Baroness Brenda Hale: on law

Baroness Hale: “The law can do things for you as well as to you.”

Baroness Brenda Hale was given the tabloid nickname 'the spider woman' when, in 2019, she declared Boris Johnson's prorogation of Parliament to be ‘unlawful, void and of no effect’ - and did so wearing an eye-catching spider brooch.

She served as the first female president of the UK's supreme court. She was the first woman, and the youngest person, to be appointed to the Law Commission. In 2004, she became the UK’s first woman law lord.

In the Speakeasy, she talks with Shami about keeping justice working for everyone, not just the powerful.

The pair also talk about what happens when we forget that the law protects as well as punishes, and why leaving the European Convention on Human Rights would be a disaster for ordinary people?

And, as a prominent 'first woman', what does it mean to hold the door open for the women who come next?

Baroness Brenda Hale's book With The Law on Our Side is out now and published by Penguin. Find it in your local independently-owned book store or online here.

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Shami's Speakeasy is a Bespoken Media Scotland production for Chaotic DoGooders. This episode was produced and edited by Ailish Hunter. Artwork by Josh Moir.