Lady Hale | With the Law on Our Side
Sat 22 Nov 2025 | 2:00pm - 3:00pm
The law underpins everything in our lives, from family difficulties and workplace disputes to the regulation of government itself. And yet for many of us, the justice system feels remote, intimidating, and impenetrable.
In her new book With the Law on Our Side, Lady Hale – the trailblazing former President of the Supreme Court and one of the most admired legal figures of our time – sets out to change that. Through captivating real-life stories drawn from every level of the justice system, she shows us how the law is meant to protect us all: schoolchildren, workers, minorities, patients, and beyond.
This is not just a book about the law, it is a citizen’s handbook, revealing how justice really works and why we should all care about it. Join Lady Hale and Anoosh Chakelian for an unmissable evening of clarity, insight, and inspiration from the woman who has shaped British legal history.
In conversation with Anoosh Chakelian
Venue: TTP Stage (Cambridge Union)
Duration: 1 hour
Event supported by
Tickets available soon.
Author Biography
Brenda Hale, Rt Hon the Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE, was born in Yorkshire and studied Law at Girton College, Cambridge. She was called to the Bar in 1969 and spent almost twenty years in academia whilst also practising as a barrister for a short time. In 1984, Lady Hale became the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission, where she oversaw critical reforms in family law and mental disability law. She also began sitting as a part time judge, was appointed a QC in 1989, and became a full time judge in the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales in 1994. She was the first and only woman to become a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, joining the appellate committee of the House of Lords in 2004, when it was still the top court for the whole United Kingdom. She was the first woman to serve on the newly created Supreme Court, was appointed Deputy President in 2013, and its President from 2017 to 2020.
Chair Biography
Anoosh Chakelian is Britain Editor of the New Statesman, where she covers policy, politics and social affairs across the country, and interviews politicians and other high-profile figures. She hosts the award-winning New Statesman Podcast and co-presents the Westminster Reimagined podcast series with Armando Iannucci. She appears regularly on national media as a commentator on current affairs. Before the New Statesman, she was deputy editor of Total Politics magazine.
