An interview with Lady Chief Justice, The Right Honourable Dame Siobhan Keegan

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An interview with Lady Chief Justice, The Right Honourable Dame Siobhan Keegan

In September 2021, the Right Honourable Dame Siobhan Keegan was appointed Lady Chief Justice in Northern Ireland; the first woman ever to hold this post. Her career started in 1994, when she was called to the Bar of Northern Ireland and appointed Queen's Counsel in 2006. During her career at the Bar, she served as Vice Chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland, Chair of the Young Bar, Chair of the Family Bar Association and Chair of the Bar Charity Committee. She was a long-standing member of the Bar Professional Conduct Committee. In October 2015, she was appointed as a High Court Judge, together with The Honourable Madam Justice McBride; the first two appointments of female lawyers to the High Court in Northern Ireland.

Lady Chief Justice Keegan, was appointed as a Coroner in July 2017 and was the Presiding Coroner from September 2017 until September 2020. She was assigned to hear Judicial Reviews from 2017 until 2020 and was the Senior Family Judge in the High Court of Northern Ireland from April 2020 until her appointment as Lady Chief Justice. During her tenure in the Family Division, she was also the designated Northern Ireland judicial member of the International Hague Network of Judges(i).

What is the significance of being the first female in this role?

It is personally very significant for me; a great honour, a great sense of achievement and a big responsibility. I take that responsibility seriously and grasp the challenge it presents because I want to build on that and hopefully provide some inspiration.

I think the bigger achievement is reflected in the reaction of wider society. It is a signpost to young women, as well as men, that they can achieve the highest office. This is important feedback I have received from people in the profession, particularly young women. I did not come from a legal background. I went through a very good education system. I hope I am a template for hard work, resilience and ambition. You need all of those and often some luck or good-timing and that all coincided and got me where I am today.

Putting aside the legal profession, the wider societal issue is that it is important in all professions, that roles are not only open to both genders, but can be seen to be held by both genders.

What challenges did you experience?

A challenge when you start in a profession like law, is that you start without a notion of what it actually entails. When I graduated, I was told it was overcrowded and if you don’t have connections, you won’t get too far. I was told certain areas of law implicitly formed a hierarchy. I decided to keep my head down and work hard and took on whatever cases came to me. Northern Ireland has the benefit of being a small jurisdiction. It is more specialist now, but before you could practice in lots of areas, and this gave me a broad set of skills.

Another challenge, was that I wasn’t quite getting work that I wanted, that male counterparts were getting, particularly criminal and commercial work. This has changed because of the discussions around briefing practices. As I progressed, I worked on cases in civil, family, judicial review and some criminal. I wanted a challenge and that’s how I became a high court judge.

A further challenge was the low number of women at the Bar. When I was called, there were sixteen men and four women. It was male-dominated and there were no female high court judges and very few female silks. That changed in the 1990s and 2000s. We are in a better place now for gender parity.

What is your view of gender parity in the legal profession?

A milestone which was very important for me was in 2015, when I was appointed with Madam Justice McBride. There’s been a growth of female lawyers being appointed to different judicial posts. We need to do better on that. The profession is made up of an equal proportion of men and women but there is an attrition rate of women leaving the profession, after seven to fifteen years in practice. This needs to be tackled so that there is space to have time out and then return to careers. It is essential to have a pool of female lawyers in higher levels of practice as QCs or partners, from which to select for progression to the judiciary. In 2021, women represented 50.3% across the whole of the judiciary. This needs to continue into senior positions.

There is more openness and transparency now, explaining to candidates that no one-size-fits-all model for a judicial role and that everyone interested should apply. It is a notion of transferable skills, which you can take from one area to another. Judicial office is not just academic ability but involves many other issues, such as fairness, personal qualities, management skills and a general ability to understand our society.

No one should be discouraged from applying regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, your ethnic background, community background or disability. It should be a level-playing field.

What processes would assist with gender parity in the profession?

I am interested in continuing with support for mentoring for women in law. I was involved in this whilst I was at the Bar prior to becoming a judge and I thought it was very important. Mentoring and peer support have been effective in different roles not just in law. Women don’t tend to have networking structures that men have, although that is changing.

Mentoring even informally is important. The Law Society is continuing to work on this. It is refreshing that men are mentoring women and vice versa. I’m interested in reverse mentoring as used in a commercial environment. Young women mentor senior executives and point out how the meeting was held, and provide feedback to the senior executive.

We all need mentoring, but legal mentors or role models were scarce during the 1990s in Northern Ireland. I looked further afield and saw that women were progressing in England and Wales, the Republic of Ireland and in the Supreme Court in USA. However, I had family mentors, not professional women, but they gave me advice and support.

I had one professional woman in my family, my aunt who was a teacher and became the school principal. I do not think I realised at the time, but I think that did inspire me to think ‘I can do this’. I do not underestimate the power of home mentors, those below the radar, not titled but in their quiet way, they did as much for me as the superstars in the legal world.

What changes would you like to see in the judiciary?

I want to build on the work of my predecessors and promote openness and transparency of the judiciary by reaching out. It did seem a mystical profession but now it is more open, and I think that’s good.

There is a need to look at how we could do things better. For example, digitalisation has evolved, and it’s made us realise that we can conduct business in different ways, and it’s cost effective and efficient. We are learning from that. Digitalisation is also good for those who have caring responsibilities and are barristers and solicitors. It removes the necessity to travel to court if case management hearings etc. are remote. It’s good for gender parity.

Do you think there is an impact on judicial decisions by virtue of being a female justice?

I think being a judge and a woman, you bring your own experiences. I get a bit worried that women are categorised as a homogenous group because all women are different. We underestimate that very many men are understanding of equality issues and of feminism. I think that the understanding is different and the confidence the public have in the judiciary is different due to greater involvement of women, but not actual decisions.

I would suggest my background in family law makes a difference to how I approach things. I have an understanding of the vulnerability of people that may be hidden and the importance of communication of decisions in an accessible way. I was always aware of maintaining the dignity of the people in front of me and letting them understand what was happening. This gives particular skills in managing difficult cases.

What have been the most significant developments in your career?

My legal career has been categorised by quite an early ascent throughout my time at the Bar. I was junior counsel for twelve years, taking silk at 35, which was due to getting very high-end work dealing with children in the higher courts. After nine years as a Silk, I was keen to find challenges in other areas of law and this prompted me to apply for the Bench.

This did lead to completely different areas of law, for example, dealing with the law as a coroner. One significant case in my career was quite recent and concerned a substantial highprofile inquest which was a year-long. It dealt with an historical event from 1971 where multiple deaths occurred in West Belfast. Clearly, there were many complex and delicate issues to grapple with, given the political context and the issue was to find a resolution after all this time. I managed to progress it through strong case management and a will to finish it. It was a significant accomplishment for me and I’m proud to have written and issued that judgment within a reasonable time(ii).

Do you have any advice for our readers if they are interested in joining the judiciary?

First, there is no substitute for hard work. I got where I am through hard work, running cases that others didn’t want to do. You must put in the groundwork. For younger people in the current climate, you need to distinguish yourself. Look at growth areas or expertise which others don’t have. For example, areas such as social media issues and data protection. Get involved in a topic that suits you and acquire the expertise, write articles, research it, attend lectures on it. Those are the academic-type issues.

In terms of the fuller picture, I would say there are number of things that you need, when seeking to become a judge. You need to get over fear of failure. There will be disappointments in the profession but that should not stop you from applying again for judicial office. You need resilience if you want to apply, and you must persist. Equally, there has to be self-reflection as well and you may realise that judicial office is not for you.

The ultimate touchstone is having confidence in your own ability. You will have lots of people that critique you and undermine you when you start, but you need to follow your own path. You do have to develop a thick skin; it does pay off. It is a fantastic career and a privilege acting in life-changing decisions. I loved the Bar because I had great freedom, great friends and no-one should underestimate what a great career it is.

Being on the Bench is different because you are employed, so you must adapt if coming from the Bar. Decision-making is down to you which can feel more isolating than practice, but it is compensated for by having really good colleagues, as I have. I’ve adapted and love my judicial career thus far.

Given the hard work required, do you have advice on wellbeing for lawyers?

Work life balance is crucial. There’s an issue that because you have to work very hard, you can become one-dimensional and burn out unless you take breaks. If you are not happy and healthy in your life generally it will impact of your work life.

Young people need to be careful in the current world not to be too accessible, given that you can work remotely, go to conferences at all hours all over world, email is constantly on etc. You have to turn off technology. It’s particularly difficult for young women managing a career and children. Proper maternity provision and childcare support is essential. I think the Bar and the professions have got better on this.

The final word

It is great that young people are reading this. I remember going to lectures and saw people I thought were way ahead of me and thinking, if I can relate to this person, then I can make a step in terms of my own career. It gave me drive. I hope I have offered inspiration to others or at least encouraged women to think about various possibilities. ■

(i) Lady Chief Justice The Right Honourable Dame Siobhan Keegan | Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission (nijac.gov.uk)

(ii) Ballymurphy Inquest | Judiciary NI

Bhini Phagura

Jointly written by Coral Hill and Bhini Phagura, Solicitor, Rayden Solicitors.