Former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Lady Arden of Heswall (Girton College) has been nominated to receive an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Cambridge.
Lady Arden, alongside seven other distinguished individuals, is due to be admitted to her honorary degree at a special Congregation in the Senate-House on Wednesday 25 June. The University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deborah Prentice, will preside and will be attended by staff, students and alumni as well as special guests.
Lady Arden shared: "I am deeply honoured by this announcement. Girton provided me with a firm foundation for commitment to the rule of law and fearless perseverance with a legal career, which was needed because at the time I started there were few women. There are now more women lawyers, and this award celebrates all their achievements too."
An outstanding lawyer and judge, Mary Arden studied at Girton College, of which she is an Honorary Fellow, then at the Harvard Law School.
Called to the Bar in 1971 and becoming a Queen's Counsel in 1986, she was appointed to the High Court Bench and made a DBE in1993, being the first woman assigned to the Chancery Division. Subsequently promoted to the Court of Appeal and made a Privy Counsellor, she joined the Supreme Court from 2018 to 2022, with the title of Lady Arden of Heswall.
A former Chair of the Law Commission, the engagement with law reform encouraged her to write on the law and its response to social change. Having also chaired the Judges' Working Party on Constitutional Reform and taken a leading role in international judicial relations, she has sat as a member of international courts and is a member of the UK Committee on Standards in Public Life.
The Faculty is delighted that Lady Arden has been serving as Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow since April 2023.
Responding to the award, Professor Louise Gullifer (Chair of the Faculty of Law) said: "The Law Faculty is delighted that Lady Arden has been nominated to be honoured in this way by the University. She is one of the Faculty’s most distinguished alumnae and we are deeply grateful that she continues to share her wisdom and experience with academics and students in her role as Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow."