06/07/2026
Students lead on Refugee Week at Wolfson
“Baroness Hale of Richmond’s lecture, 'Reflections of a Lady Law Lord', electrified our Wolfson audience,” says Wolfson's President, Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu. “She detailed a number of professional firsts in her six-decade, history making career; an exemplary career of service that has left its positive mark on society.”
Speaking to a packed room in Wolfson’s Lee Hall, Lady Hale shared her professional journey, taking the audience all the way from her undergraduate days at Cambridge to becoming the first – and to date, only – female President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
“The world which I entered in 1963 was undoubtedly a man’s world,” said Lady Hale. “The women who entered it were expected to know the rules, many of them not written down. But I didn’t know the rules, so was happily able to ignore them.”
Throughout the many stages of her career, Lady Hale has continually advocated for equality in law, doing her best to keep opening doors for women in the industry.
“I’ve been the second woman as often as I’ve been the first, and I am eternally grateful to those first women who didn’t either pull up the draw bridge or frighten the horses.”
Now in her retirement, Lady Hale remains active in her mission to make the justice system more accessible.
“My recent book, With the Law on Our Side, is an attempt to explain to general readers, ordinary, non-lawyer people, that the law and the justice system are there to do things for us as well as to us.”
Missed the event?
A recording of Lady Hale’s speech is available to view on the College’s YouTube channel.
Pictures of the evening are available on the Wolfson Flickr.
Lee Seng Tee Distinguished Lecture
Taking place annually, the Lee Seng Tee Distinguished Lectures bring leading academics and international figures to Wolfson. It was endowed by Dr Lee Seng Tee in 2005 on the occasion of the College’s 40th anniversary and is a major event in the academic year at Wolfson.
Header image by Alice Boagey
