Erika Rackley

Women, judging and the judiciary : from difference to diversity

1. Positioning the Woman Judge 2. Delivering Diversity in the Legal Profession 3. Appointing Judicial Diversity 4. Representations of the Woman Judge: Revisiting the Little Mermaid 5. Difference and the Default Judge 6. Making the Case for Judicial Diversity

Difference in the House of Lords

Taking the media reaction to Brenda Hale’s appointment to the appellate committee of the House of Lords in January 2004 as its starting point, this article considers the impact difference might have on understandings of both the judge and judging. It argues that beneath the surface of the somewhat simplistic personality-based alternatives posited in the British press lies a more organic response to the woman judge generally and her perceived difference. Drawing on Hale’s potential for difference in relation to familial (dis)connection, unwanted parenthood and indecent assault, the article concludes that, far from being a malevolent threat, the perceived difference of the woman judge offers an opportunity to consider the possibility of alternative adjudicative approaches and new understandings of the judge.

The Women's Legal Landmarks Project: Celebrating 100 Years of Women in the Law in the UK and Ireland

This article by Rosemary Auchmuty and Erika Rackley introduces the Womens Legal Landmarks Project. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving feminist scholars from law and other disciplines engaging in the process of identifying, researching and producing critical accounts of the key legal events, cases and statutes which represent significant turning points for women in the UK and Ireland. In creating the first scholarly anthology of legal landmarks for women spanning four jurisdictions and spanning eleven centuries, it seeks to contribute both to the development of the discipline of feminist legal history as well as societal understandings of the contribution women have made to public life and, more specifically, their involvement in the production of law, law reform and justice.