The UK Supreme Court on 21st July appointed its first female president, Brenda Hale, making her the first woman to be the most senior judge in the country.
Hale, an expert in family law who has been the court’s deputy president since June 2013, will succeed Lord David Neuberger as its head in October, following his retirement.
Hale said it was a "great honour and a challenge" to follow Neuberger.
In 1984, she was the first woman to be appointed to the Law Commission, and 20 years later she became the UK's first Law Lord. In 2009, she became the first woman to sit on the newly formed Supreme Court.
Neuberger welcomed her appointment as his successor.
Rights Info, a digital human rights campaign group, celebrated Hale as a prominent champion of diversity in the judiciary and supporter of human rights protections.
Hale's promotion was announced at the same time as Lady Justice Jill Black was named as only the second woman to sit on the UK Supreme Court.
She and two other new justices, Lord Justice David Lloyd Jones and Lord Justice Michael Briggs, will join the court on October 2, when Hale will also be formally sworn in.
