Only the fifth woman judge to be appointed to the Court of Appeal, Dame Heather Hallett, 58, is being tipped as a future Chief Justice. She was the first woman to be elected leader of the South Eastern Circuit, in 1995, and then the first woman to chair the Bar Council of England and Wales, in 1998. She is one of the judicial members of the Judicial Appointments Commission, responsible for selecting new judges. Personable, popular and highly regarded by fellow judges, she went to Brockenhurst Grammar School in the New Forest and St Hugh’s College, Oxford. She was called to the Bar in 1972, took silk in 1989 and became a bencher of the Inner Temple in 1993. She was made a deputy High Court judge in 1995 and a High Court judge in 1999. She and her husband, who live in South West London, have two sons. She enjoys theatre, music and games.

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