Patricia Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal
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| The Right Honourable The Baroness Scotland of Asthal PC, QC |
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 Patricia Scotland speaking at the pre-launch of LGBT History Month 08 at the Royal Courts of Justice on 26 November 2007 |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 28 June 2007 |
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| Prime Minister | Gordon Brown |
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| Preceded by | The Lord Goldsmith |
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| Born | 19 August 1955 Dominica |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Website | The Law Officers |
Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, PC, QC (born 19 August 1955) is a barrister and the current Attorney General for England and Wales, a ministerial position in the British Government.
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[edit] Early life
Scotland was born in Dominica to Antiguan and Dominican parents, but her family moved to Walthamstow when she was three, where she went to Walthamstow School for Girls. She is the tenth of twelve children. She was educated at University College London where she earned her law degree in 1976. She was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1977, specialising in family and children's law. In 1991 she was the first black woman to be made a Queen's Counsel.
[edit] Career advancement
She was a speaker at the 'Women of the Year' Luncheon in October 1993; her speech claiming that there was a male way and a female way to work in a profession was criticised as superficial by the journalist Anne McElvoy. Early in 1997 she was elected as a Bencher of the Middle Temple. Scotland was named as a Millennium Commissioner on February 17, 1994, and was a member of the Commission for Racial Equality. She received a life peerage as Baroness Scotland of Asthal, of Asthal in the County of Oxfordshire, on a Labour Party list of working peers in 1997. However, her continued legal work led to a low attendance record in the House of Lords. Among other things she headed an inquiry into a murder committed by a psychiatric patient.
[edit] Government
In a government reshuffle in 1999, Scotland was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She was responsible for the British overseas territories, and also relations with Southern Asian countries. She was responsible for introducing the Bill to ratify the International Criminal Court in the United Kingdom. She also established a panel of British-based lawyers who gave their time on a pro bono basis to United Kingdom nationals imprisoned in foreign countries. In 2001 she became Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, and was made a member of the Privy Council. Scotland was a contender for a cabinet position in 2003, when Tony Blair reportedly considered appointing her Leader of the House of Lords [1].
In 2003, Lady Scotland of Asthal was made Minister of State for the Criminal Justice system and Law Reform at the Home Office. A new extradition treaty with the United States of America had been signed on March 31, 2003. Scotland had the responsibility for promoting the necessary legislation in the House of Lords. [2]. In 2004 Scotland was suggested as a possible appointee as a Commissioner of the European Union.
The 'NatWest Three' extradition case directly connected to the treaty was unusual in that the offences the three were charged with are not typically extradition offences. The three men are all British citizens, worked and lived in the UK for the Royal Bank Of Scotland and the NatWest Bank, both British banks. The UK ratified the UK/US extradition treaty of 2003 while the US has still to bring the legislation into law. On 12 July 2006, in a highly unusual move, the Speaker of the House, Michael Martin, allowed an emergency debate on both the treaty and the 'NatWest Three' after a request by Liberal Democrat frontbencher Nick Clegg. During the debate Lady Scotland of Asthal's view in 2005 that a higher threshold to establish 'probable cause' was required by the UK to extradite from the US than vice-versa was contrasted by Clegg to comments the Prime Minister had made in July 2006 in which he stated that the evidential burdens on the two countries were the same [3].
The NatWest Three were duly convicted of wire fraud in the United States.
On 28 June 2007, Lady Scotland of Asthal was appointed Attorney General by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. She is the first woman to hold the office.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ New Face of the Lords, The Guardian, 7 October 2003.
- ^ Extradition Debate Hansard, 12 July 2006.
- ^ Extradition Debate Hansard, 12 July 2006.
[edit] External links
[edit] Offices held
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by The Lord Goldsmith |
Attorney General for England and Wales 2007 – present |
Incumbent |
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