Spider Woman
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  • Published: 7 October 2021
  • ISBN: 9781473585591
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288
Categories:

Spider Woman

A Life – by the former President of the Supreme Court

Formats & editions
EBook
7 Oct 2021
Audiobook
7 Oct 2021
Paperback
7 Aug 2022
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Spider Woman describes Lady Hale's unlikely journey from a little village in North Yorkshire to become the most senior judge in the United Kingdom; it is the story of a pioneer, a reformer, and a living legend

Lady Hale is an inspirational figure admired for her historic achievements and for the causes she has championed. Spider Woman is her story.

As 'a little girl from a little school in a little village in North Yorkshire', she only went into the law because her headteacher told her she wasn't clever enough to study history. She became the most senior judge in the country but it was an unconventional path to the top.

How does a self-professed 'girly swot' get ahead in a profession dominated by men? Was it a surprise that the perspectives of women and other disadvantaged groups had been overlooked, or that children's interests were marginalised? A lifelong smasher of glass-ceilings, who took as her motto 'women are equal to everything', her landmark rulings in areas including domestic violence, divorce, mental health and equality were her attempt to correct that.

As President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale won global attention in finding the 2019 prorogation of Parliament to be unlawful. Yet that dramatic moment was merely the pinnacle of a career throughout which she was hailed as a pioneering reformer.

Wise, warm and inspiring, Spider Woman shows how the law shapes our world and supports us in crisis. It is the story of how Lady Hale found that she could overcome the odds, which shows that anyone from similar beginnings will find that they can cope too.
  • Published: 7 October 2021
  • ISBN: 9781473585591
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 288
Categories:

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Praise for Spider Woman

Brenda Hale is a superhero who embodies Parker's law that great power brings equivalent responsibility. Her wise, accessible memoir is essential, entertaining and inspirational reading for all lovers of freedom, equality and justice

Shami Chakrabarti

A feminist icon... Her success story is an inspiration for men and women both - showing that law matters

Baroness Helena Kennedy QC

This book is not only essential reading for anyone who is in the Law or interested in the Law but it is also a fascinating personal story

Cherie Blair

A compelling account of a path-breaking and inspirational career by one of the most influential lawyers and judges of our times

David Pannick QC

Inspirational and iconic

Philippe Sands

Brenda Hale's story is extraordinary. She has been a pioneer as a woman... Spider woman and agent of change

Harriet Harman

Lady Hale takes us on the journey from 'girly swot' to 'Spider Woman' and along the way teaches us about the importance of the rule of law and protecting human rights... with humanity, humour and deep insight

Minouche Shafik

This is an extraordinary and essential journey through the law by the most inspiring of figures

Nazir Afzal

What a life, what a story... Spider Woman is restrained, warm, dryly funny ... and an inspiration to all women to aim high... Whatever her title, Brenda Hale rocks

Melanie Reid, The Times

Fluently written... Her accounts of her more groundbreaking cases are fascinating... [Spider Woman is] quietly thrilling

Rachel Cooke, Observer

Eye-opening... I would highly recommend the work to law students, the newly qualified and those with a sociolegal interest in the treatment of women within the law and the profession

Nick Clapham, Law Society's Gazette

A wonderful story... A wonderful read. A wonderful woman

Alec Samuels, New Law Journal

A fascinating memoir weaving together personal and professional reflections

Alex Dean, Prospect

Baroness Hale's autobiography, Spider Woman, is a reminder of the huge but incomplete progress made by women in public life over the past 60 years... The willingness to talk truth to power that she has shown is needed now more than ever

Rachel Reeves, New Statesman, *Books of the Year*

[A] compelling autobiography... Hale reveals more than one might expect

Frances Gibb, The Times, *Books of the Year*

Lady Hale... is a trailblazer for social reform. Her sharp intelligence and fierce work ethic are striking... Reading her autobiography makes one wish to know her as a person... She appears so very admirable for being oddly both self-effacing and feisty

Jenny Kingsley JP, Magistrate