UCL Laws celebrates its pioneering and continuing role in opening doors for women in law

UCL Laws has a long and distinguished history as a pioneer in supporting women’s access to legal education. As the first law school in England to admit students regardless of religion, the first to admit women alongside men, and the first to award a law degree to a woman, the Faculty helped reshape expectations about who could study and practise law. It later appointed one of the first three female law professors in the UK, further cementing its place at the forefront of change. These ‘firsts’ are important. They helped to change attitudes about the role of women in law and society.

But UCL Laws is not content to rest on these ‘firsts’. To mark the 2026 International Women’s Day in the context of the Faculty’s UCL200 celebrations, the UCL Institute for Human Rights and UCL Faculty of Laws hosted a discussion with a distinguished panel of speakers, who reflected on their careers in law, academia, legal practice and the judiciary. The panellists were: 

• Laura Devine (Managing Partner Laura Devine Immigration, and UCL Laws alumna)
• Dame Hazel Genn (UCL Pro-Provost Bicentennial, Professor of Socio-Legal Studies and former Dean of UCL Faculty of Laws)
• Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond (Honorary Professor UCL, former President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom)
• Dee Masters (Barrister, Cloisters Chambers)
• Dawn Oliver (Emeritus Professor of Constitutional Law UCL and former Dean of UCL Faculty of Laws)
• Toni Williams, (Honorary LLD, UCL; Senior Tutor and Head of Academic Division, Girton College Cambridge)

The event was introduced by the Dean of UCL Faculty of Laws, Professor Eloise Scotford, and chaired by Alison Diduck (Professor of Law), and Virginia Mantouvalou (Professor of Human Rights and Labour Law and Co-Director of the Institute for Human Rights), who co-organised the panel discussion.

The panellists were invited to engage with a range of questions by the chairs, and they reflected on their best and worst experiences as women in law, the progress that has been made, but also the barriers that remain. While there was agreement that there have been significant positive developments for women in law in all aspects of the profession, it was also evident that significant structural barriers persist. This is particularly acute when gender and race intersect.

The event attracted students, alumni, academics, practising lawyers and other members of the public, and was widely praised for being inspiring, energising and a powerful reminder of the Faculty’s ongoing leadership in advancing equality within legal education and the legal profession.