PATRICIA
SCOTLAND
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NAME
Patricia Scotland
Also known as Baroness Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, Oxfordshire, PC, QC, The Rt Hon. the Baroness Scotland of Asthal QC, Lady Scotland of Asthal
BORN:
Patricia Janet Scotland
19th August, 1955
St. Joseph, Dominica
PROFESSION
Attorney General for England and Wales, barrister
FAMILY
PARENTS:
Arthur L. Scotland and Dellie Marie Scotland née Mourillon
SIBLINGS:
Ten
SPOUSE:
Richard Mawhinney 1985present
CHILDREN:
Two boys
EDUCATION
Walthamstow High School for Girls, Walthamstow, England | |
19?76 | University of London, England |
DEGREES: | |
1976 | LLB Hons (London), University of London, England |
1977 | Called to the Bar, Middle Temple, England |
CAREER
1990 | Chairperson, Her Majesty’s Commissioner for Racial Equality (199092) | 1991 | Appointed Queens Counsel |
1994 | Appointed Assistant Recorder (a part-time judge) |
Member, The Millennium Commission (199499) | |
1997 | Made a Bencher of the Middle Temple |
1999 | Appointed a judge |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (19992001) | |
2000 | Appointed Recorder |
2001 | Raised to the Privy Council |
Parliamentary Secretary in the Lord Chancellor’s department (200103) | |
2002 | Alternate UK Government Representative of the European Convention (200203) |
2003 | Minister of State for the Criminal Justice system and Law Reform at the Home Office |
Spokesperson for the Department of Trade and Industry on women and equality issues in the House of Lords | |
Dame of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George | |
Dominican Representative of the Council of the British Commonwealth Ex-Service League | |
Former Honorary President of the Trinity Hall Law Society | |
Sponsor of the George Viner Memorial Fund Trust | |
Patron, The Margaret Beaufort Institute | |
Patron, GAP | |
Patron, The Frank Longford Charitable Trust | |
Patron, The Women and Children’s Welfare Fund | |
Chairperson, Former Chairman of the ILEA Disciplinary Tribunal | |
Chairperson, HMG Caribbean Advisory Group | |
Member, The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship | |
Member, The BBC World Service Consultative Group Lifeline, Trinidad & Tobago | |
Member, The Antigua Bar | |
Member, The Bar of the Commonwealth of Dominica | |
Patron of the Women and Children’s Welfare Fund | |
Door Tenant at Bridewell Chambers | |
The Bar Public Relations Committee | |
Race Relations Committee | |
Professional Conduct Committee | |
Judicial Studies Board Ethnic Minority Advisory Committee | |
House of Commons Working Party on Child Abduction | |
Legal Advisory Panel on the National Consumer Council | |
National Advisory Committee on Mentally Disordered Offenders | |
Founder member and former Head of Chambers of 1 Gray’s Inn Square | |
Advisory Panel of the British American Project | |
The Parliamentary Labour Party Women’s Group | |
The Thomas Moore Society | |
The House of Lords All Party Parliamentary London Group | |
The All Party Parliamentary Lords’ Prayer Group | |
The All Parliamentary Group on Breast Cancer | |
The All Party Parliamentary Group of CAFOD | |
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Children |
AWARDS
1992 | Black Woman of the Year (Law) |
One of the top 100 Black Britons | |
2004 | Yorkshire Black Achievers Award |
Peer of the Year in the House 2004 Awards | |
Peer of the Year in the Channel 4 Political Awards | |
Parliamentarian of the Year in the Political Studies Association Awards | |
2005 | The Spectator Parliamentarian of the Year Awards |
2007 | Britain’s most influential black woman, New Nation newspaper |
Honorary Doctorate for services to law, government, social justice and international affairs, University of Westminster | |
Honorary Doctorate, University of Buckingham | |
Honorary Doctorate, University of Leicester | |
Honorary Doctorate, University of East London | |
Honorary Fellow of The Society for Advanced Legal Studies, Wolfson College, Cambridge | |
Honorary Fellow of The Society for Advanced Legal Studies of Cardiff University |
NOTABLE
Specialised in family and public law | |
1991 | First black female QC (Queens Counsel); also the youngest person, at age 35, to be appointed Queens Counsel in Britain since William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806) |
1997 | Created a life peer as Baroness Scotland of Asthal, in the County of Oxfordshire |
2007 | Appointed Attorney General by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown |
First woman to become Attorney General for England and Wales | |
First Dominican to be appointed to a cabinet post in the United Kingdom |