Northern Ireland gets its first Lady Chief Justice

Northern Ireland gets its first Lady Chief Justice

Justice Siobhan Keegan appointed to top role becoming the first Lady Chief Justice in any of the nations that make up the UK

Justice Siobhan Keegan has been named as the new Chief Justice of Northern Ireland. Justice Keegan becomes the first woman chief justice in any of the nations that make up the United Kingdom.

She will replace the incumbent Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan.

Justice Keegan will be sworn in as Lady Chief Justice in September this year. This will be the second landmark in her career after having become one of two women appointed as High Court judges in Northern Ireland for the first time in 2015.

She is currently presiding coroner for Northern Ireland. She was appointed to this position in July 2017. She was formally y vice-chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland.

"As women now make up at least half of the legal profession in Northern Ireland it is encouraging to see a female become the head of the Judiciary. The Law Society looks forward to working with Chief Justice Keegan in her new role," Rowan White, president of the Law Society of Northern Ireland, said.

No woman has so far been appointed to head the judiciary in either England and Wales (in the role of Lord Chief Justice) or Scotland (as Lord President of the Court of Session). Baroness Hale had reached the closest when she became the first president of the UK's Supreme Court in 2017, which is the final court of appeal for all UK civil cases and criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.