Boris Johnson’s decision to prorogue Parliament is under scrutiny after three days of argument both against and for the five-week suspension. A decision from the court is due early next week after the two appeals were heard. These appeals came from businesswoman Gina Miller and the other from the Government, who contested a Scottish Court ruling that the decision was unlawful.
Lady Hale brought proceedings to closure on Thursday, but who is the Supreme Court Judge who will rule on Mr Johnson’s prorogation of Parliament?
Lady Brenda Marjorie Hale is the President of The Supreme Court, The Right Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE.
Baronness Hale was born in Leeds in 1945 and attended the Richmond High School for Girls, now part of Richmond School.
She went on to study law at Girton College, Cambridge, where she graduated with a starred first at the top of her class.
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Lady Hale taught law at Manchester University from 1966 to 1984, also qualifying as a barrister and practised for a while at the Manchester Bar.
She specialised in Family and Social Welfare law, was the founding editor of the Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, and authored a pioneering case book on ‘The Family, Law and Society’.
In 1984 she was the first woman to be appointed to the Law Commission, a statutory body which promotes the reform of the law.
Important legislation resulting from the work of her team at the Commission includes the Children Act 1989, the Family Law Act 1996, and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
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In 1994 she became a High Court judge, the first to have made her career as an academic and public servant rather than a practising barrister.
In 1999 she was the second woman to be promoted to the Court of Appeal, before becoming the first woman Law Lord.
She took up the appointment as President of The Supreme Court in September 2017, succeeding Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury.
This followed her appointment as Deputy President from June 2013.
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In October 2009 Lady Hale became the first woman Justice of The Supreme Court, having in January 2004 become the United Kingdom’s first woman Lord of Appeal in Ordinary.
Lady Hale was first married to Anthony Hoggett, a lecturer at Manchester University and the pair have one daughter.
They later divorced, and in 1992, she married Julian Farrand – a former Professor of Law at Manchester, Pensions Ombudsman and colleague of hers on the Law Commission.
The decision on whether or not Boris Johnson proroguing parliament was lawful will be made early next week.
