I am a woman blessed. Although I am a lawyer, my life has not been confined to law. While my central passion is the business of justice, I have also had the good fortune of spending time in the worlds of education, politics, science, the media and the arts. How lucky is that? Those experiences have not just enriched my life but infused it with the belief that everything is interlinked. It also means I have the most wonderful friends across all walks of life. They are young and old, well off and poor, black and white, religious and non-religious, and they all enrich my life beyond measure. They provide me with insights and perspectives which help me see my own professional world in a different light. They keep me facing outwards, which is so vital if we are to avoid complacency; they keep me questioning how everything works, especially the legal system. Professions and institutions hate criticism; yet if we do not listen, especially to the young, we are doomed to fail those who need the law most. Having such a broad and wildly creative body of loving friends is something I wish on everyone. It means that solutions to problems can be found in the cross-currents.
In giving thanks there is always the profound risk that some of those who have helped me over the years and months will escape the net. I have been given so much intellectual sustenance by women friends and colleagues. My sisters in law at Doughty Street Chambers are extraordinary. They are the most brilliant, compassionate and enlightened group of lawyers you could hope to find. And the men are pretty good too! I especially want to mention Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, a legal Amazon whose work on human rights especially for women has been groundbreaking. She led the legal team on abortion rights for the women of Northern Ireland all the way to the Supreme Court and with such commitment that we should be raising statues to her. She also instigated the annual lawyers’ event which Doughty Street Chambers runs on Women and the Law. This has kept me on top of the raw experience of women in the courts, as lawyers and as clients. It is all too easy when you become senior in the profession to see the best of what the system has to offer in the highest courts and to be immune to the reality of what is really going on elsewhere. I also want to thank the amazingly gifted women working on the international front, especially my colleague Amal Clooney, who shares my engagement on the issue of trafficked women and children, and who has been deeply immersed in the cases of the Yazidi women enslaved by ISIL in northern Iraq. Also my fabulous colleagues Kirsty Brimelow QC, Jen Robinson and Angela Patrick, all of whom have provided invaluable advice and intelligence on the current state of play in the profession and the courts.
I could not have made a start on this book without the updated material provided by the most wonderful American intern I had the good fortune to engage two years ago, Arielle Littles, a marvellous scholar from Columbia University, New York. She systematically scoured the chapters of Eve Was Framed and charted the changes in law up to that time. However, as it turned out I did not have the hours in the day at that point to write a new version of Eve Was Framed. I started the earnest work last year and this time the formidably clever Ciar McAndrew helped me identify the changes in statistics and law since last time around and was an invaluable source of ideas and input. She is now launched into practice as a barrister and is undoubtedly bound for higher things.
I am also indebted to Andrea Coomber, the extraordinary Director of Justice, the legal NGO, who curates some of the best work you will find on legal reform; and her colleague Jodie Blackstock whose knowledge on the criminal justice system is encyclopedic. And another laurel to Martha Spurrier the stunningly articulate Director of Liberty who was also a Doughty Street woman. And Afua Hirsch, yet another who went on to be a leading commentator on the law and is now a celebrated author and journalist. I have learned from them all. Heading the list of influences are many women in the world of academic law: Professor Christine Chinkin of LSE, Kate O’Regan, the director of the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at Oxford University, and Aileen Kavanagh also at Oxford, Erika Rackley of Birmingham University and my wonderful friend and awesome inspiration Professor Nicola Lacey QC, scholar of All Souls and LSE. The list is much longer but would become unwieldy and includes many great criminologists. I thank them all for providing me with the theoretical basis for my professional life. I also want to thank two close friends, Dr Estela Welldon and Professor Susie Orbach, who have taught me so much about the workings of the human psyche. And any such list of influences must include the wonderful woman who is president of our Supreme Court, Brenda Hale, who to my delight has no hesitation in describing herself as a feminist.
I will always be indebted to my agent, Faith Evans, who was on one of my juries thirty years ago and wrote to me afterwards, persuading me to write. She has remained a source of encouragement in my life and I thank her yet again for all she has done. And then to my editor, Becky Hardie, for whom most tributes are inadequate. Her insight, intelligence, skill and support were fundamental to the making of this book. Teasing out the arguments with her was invigorating and took me to new places.
No woman survives without the support of a troupe of friends who share evenings of laughter and well-filled glasses. Friends who cheer us on, send us encouraging texts and cards, and offer advice and wisdom. They know who they are. Thank you from my heart. I also confess that I could not function without a great PA. Hilary Hard is my right arm and I love her like a sister. I also had the great support while principal at Mansfield College, Oxford, of Jane Buswell, another terrific PA and supportive woman, who kept me on the straight and narrow in that part of my life.
And finally, my eternal gratitude goes to my family, which has grown in recent years. To Keir, Reem, Tai, Clio, Calum, Noa and Roland, thank you for being so wonderful and such a source of joy. And to my husband Iain Hutchison, you have filled my life with love. Thank you.