Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal

Sitter in 4 portraits
Born on the Caribbean island nation of Dominica, Baroness Scotland grew up in east London. Training as a lawyer she, in 1991, became both the youngest and first black woman to be appointed a Queen's Counsel. She was the first black woman to be appointed Deputy High Court Judge, Recorder and Master of Middle Temple. She joined the House of Lords in 1997 as Baroness Scotland of Asthal, going on to serve in the Foreign Office, Home Office and Lord Chancellor's Department. in 2015 she represented Dominica at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. She is the second Secretary-General from the Caribbean and the first woman to hold the post. She is well known for spearheading a major reform of the British criminal justice system, including the introduction of the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act. In 2007, she was appointed Attorney General (the chief legal advisor to the Crown), the first woman to hold the post since its creation. Since 2015, she has been the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, another first. She is working to encourage development, economic success, climate change reversal and democracy in the fifty-three countries that make up the organisation. Scotland is a patron of several charities, including the Corporate Alliance Against Domestic Violence, and Children and Families Across Borders.