Baroness ButlerSloss was appointed President of the High Court Family Division in 1999, the first woman to reach that level of the judiciary. She came into the public eye when, as a High Court judge, she was chosen to chair the Cleveland Child Abuse Inquiry. Her focus on the voice of child led to the central principle of the Children Act introduced in 1989. Among her key family rulings were that gay couples could adopt children.

In this episode, Baroness ButlerSloss speaks candidly about mistakes, including a case where she ruled that a child should go back to live with her mother but was then badly treated and victimised, along with her views on current proposals to allow assisted suicide when people are certified as within six months of death.

The interview is conducted by Frances Gibb, journalist and former legal editor of The Times, for a landmark podcast series, The Judges: Power, Politics and the People, hosted by The University of Law. The series features the most senior former judges in England and Wales of the last three decades – those who have reached the apex of the justice system. It asks: who are the men and occasionally women who have reached the pivotal positions at the top of the judiciary? What do they feel about their time in office their key decisions and dealing with ministers?



00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:23 Being a woman at the top of the judiciary
00:05:14 Early life and entry into the law
00:08:15 Juggling career and family
00:09:28 Legal career
00:13:03 Being President of the Family Division
00:15:23 Fathers 4 Justice
00:18:23 Secrecy and the family court
00:19:48 Main achievements in the Family Court
00:21:17 Gay adoption
00:22:31 Regrets
00:25:30 Cleveland child abuse enquiry
00:26:26 Westminster paedophile ring enquiry
00:27:35 Diana inquest
00:30:00 Royal security
00:32:11 Faith
00:33:24 Assisted suicide
00:36:04 Most difficult judgments
00:37:46 End of life judgements
00:41:10 Current state of Family Courts
00:43:13 Divorce
00:46:38 Public apathy with politics
00:48:29 Concerns over secondary legislations balance of power
00:51:33 Prorogation of Parliament
00:53:50 Future balance of power judges, politicians, Parliament
00:55:26 Ministers’ disregard for rule of law
00:56:10 Lord Goldsmith’s evidence to Tony Blair on Iraq
00:57:15 Politicisation of position of Lord Chancellor
01:00:11 Lady Chief Justice
01:01:34 Future challenges for family justice