The President of the International Court of Justice, Baroness (Rosalyn) Higgins, 70, holds the distinction of being the first woman judge appointed to the court when she took up her post in 1995. In 2006 she was elected President. It was the climax of an outstanding career that has seen her argue several key cases before the court, most notably as counsel in the Lockerbie case. She has successfully combined international law at the Bar with academia: after Girton College, Cambridge, she became a barrister, taking silk in 1986 and later becoming a bencher of Inner Temple. But she continued her academic studies: as well as her own degrees she has received more than 13 honorary doctorates and held various chairmanships — she was Professor of International Law at the London School of Economics from 1981 to 1995. She was awarded the Balzan Prize 2007 for her “outstanding contributions to the development of international law since the Second World War and her role as an academic, judge and Court President”. She is married to the politician Terence Higgins (now Lord Higgins), the Conservative peer who was MP for Worthing, West Sussex, for more than 30 years.

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