The Rt. Hon. the Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC
Baroness Scotland is the former Shadow Attorney General and former Attorney General of England and Wales.
Baroness Scotland has achieved a number of extraordinary firsts: In 1991 at the age of thirty five, she became the first black and youngest woman ever to be appointed Queen’s Counsel. She was the first black woman to be appointed Deputy High Court Judge, Recorder, Master of Middle Temple, Member of the House of Lords, and Lord’s Minister, and is the first and only woman ever to have been appointed as Attorney General.
In 2001 she became Parliamentary Secretary and Deputy to the Lord Chancellor and was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. In 2003 Baroness Scotland was made Minister of State for Criminal Justice and Law Reform at the Home Office and in 2007 she was appointed as HM Attorney General for England Wales and Northern Ireland.
Baroness Scotland undertook major reform of the criminal justice system, including the introduction of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act, and during her term of office from 2003-7 crime in England and Wales was reduced to its lowest level since 1981. During this period Baroness Scotland chaired the Inter-Ministerial Group on Domestic Violence which collectively worked together to reduce domestic violence by 64% and led to £7.5bn reduction in the economic cost of domestic violence in England and Wales.
She has won many awards in recognition of her achievements including being voted Peer of the Year, Parliamentarian of the Year and receiving a lifetime achievement award from Euromoney Legal Media Group. In 2008, The Guardian named Baroness Scotland the most powerful female black Briton.
Baroness Scotland is the founding patron of the Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence, and in 2011, she founded the Eliminate Domestic Violence Global Foundation. In November 2012, she was appointed Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to South Africa.
Previous speakers
2013 Jessica de Grazia
2012 Angela Knight CBE
2011 Alderman Fiona Woolf CBE
2010 Andrea Leadsom MP
2009 Gillian Tett
2008 Ruth Steinholtz
2007 Margaret Heffernan
2006 Professor Susan Vinnicombe CBE
2005 Baroness Sarah Hogg
2004 Baroness Judith Wilcox
2003 Karen Silk
