Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, QC, of Doughty Street Chambers, has been elected chairman of the governing council of Justice, the human rights and law reform charity. The appointment will be for three years.

What will the main challenges be?

As we have learnt from the past few decades, a world that is going through profound changes confronts us all with huge challenges and the law is inevitably engaged. Justice has not only taken a principled stand against erosions of liberty and ill-considered legislation, it has also creatively engaged in law reform, lobbied to improve the legal system and been at the forefront of legal and constitutional change based on research and rational debate.

A new generation of lawyers is coming to the Bar and the solicitors’ profession and I want to catch them when they are young and excite them about the law. I want them to see Justice as their organisation, to engage their hearts as well as their heads — so one of the challenges is to tap into that new energy.

What was your worst day as a lawyer?

The worst moment for me is always when the jury foreman stands to deliver the verdict. I stop breathing.

What was your most memorable experience as a lawyer?

Acting for Paul Hill, in the appeal of the Guildford Four, and hearing Lord Lane quash their convictions and concede that the police had lied to secure their convictions.

Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?

In my professional life it was an American attorney, Leonard Boudin. He was a great constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian, who represented many people during the McCarthy years, including Paul Robeson and Lillian Hellman. He also represented Dr Benjamin Spock and others for opposing the Vietnam War. He became a surrogate father and taught me how law can be used to strengthen democracy.

Why did you become a lawyer?

It may sound weird nowadays but I wanted to help poor people. My father, who was a trade unionist, used to see people with industrial injuries and he told me that ordinary people were not always well served by law. I also remember my mother having her head split open by a slate falling from a neglected building and she was frightened to see a lawyer because of the cost.

If you had not become a lawyer, what would you have chosen and why?

I have been lucky because I have been able to do other things while remaining a lawyer — including presenting television and radio programmes, putting together a drama series, writing books and lecturing. The only minor yearning is for architecture, as it combines the aesthetic and the functional.

Where do you see yourself in ten years?

You must be joking. I have never planned my career.

l_tsang@hotmail.com

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