ABOUT

Gray’s Inn commissioned a portrait of the four Lady Justices of Appeal who are members of the Governing Body of the Inn. (Left to right, Dame Sarah Asplin, Dame Nicola Davies, Dame Anne Rafferty, Dame Vivien Rose)

It was highly unusual that four of the eight female Justices of the Court of Appeal should come from one Inn, and Gray’s Inn wanted to celebrate that fact, especially as this year (2020) falls around the centenary of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919, which received Royal Assent on 23 December 1919, and so allowed women to become barristers.

As well as being a record of the fact that there are more women judges now than ever before, it is hoped that the portrait will be an image that will encourage young women at the start of their legal careers to think that they too might hold judicial office.