Helena Kennedy
You might have assumed at this stage
that the Chairman’s speech would be
a hard act to follow. If so, you might
not have reckoned on the incandescent
effect of the address by the next
speaker, Baroness Helena Kennedy
of the Shaws QC -- who is a bit of a
polymath in the realm of the law, being
an author and broadcaster as well
as a lawyer. Having practised at the
Bar for 40 years, she has conducted
many high profile cases, from The
Balcombe Street siege and the Brighton
bombing to the recent Jihadist fertilizer
bomb plot. Along the way she has
acquired a dazzling array of honours,
including 38 honorary doctorates, and
is an Honorary Fellow of the British
Academy and the Royal Society of
Edinburgh.
An outspoken and stunningly effective
champion of human rights (which
do include women’s rights, don’t you
know), Baroness Kennedy spoke briefly
of her rise to pro Z[