Men dominate Times' 100 most influential lawyers list
updated on 20 March 2012
The Times has released its annual list of the country's 100 most influential lawyers, as judged by the paper. The list includes judges, barristers, politically connected legal luminaries, prominent human rights lawyers, charity executives and legal educators. Just 14 women were named on the list (all but one outside the top 10), again highlighting the sector's failure to ensure diversity and equality among those occupying the profession's top positions.
The City was represented in the top 10 for the first time by David Morley of Allen & Overy. In a further nod to corporate law and the Magic Circle, The Times also compiled a separate list of the top 10 most influential lawyers in the City, all of them male.
Other high-profile entrants included Lord Justice Leveson, currently presiding over the eponymous inquiry into press ethics and regulation, and president of the European Court of Human Rights, Sir Nicolas Bratza, who has recently been at odds with the UK government over such issues as votes for prisoners and the rights of the radical cleric Abu Qatada. The only woman to feature in the top 10 was Baroness Hale of Richmond, who is the first (and so far only) female justice in the Supreme Court, and a vocal critic of the glass ceiling she believes to be preventing women from becoming established in senior positions across the profession.
