Just weeks after ‘Lord Hale’ gaffe
Legal research database Lawtel appears to have taken it upon itself to improve the lack of diversity on the Supreme Court bench, circulating a judgment apparently heard by three female justices.
Readers will know there are currently two females in the country’s highest appeal court, those being its president Lady Hale and new justice Lady Black.
It's official – Lady Hale is now the president of the @UKSupremeCourt pic.twitter.com/KU1s4kdOh8
— Legal Cheek (@legalcheek) October 2, 2017
However, only one of these, Hale, sat on the Supreme Court case of Michalak v General Medical Council. With the case concluding last week, a number of legal affairs boffins sat tight by their emails awaiting Lawtel’s daily update. Imagine their surprise when this was circulated:
Lady Hughes and Lady Wilson are in fact Lord Hughes and Lord Wilson. Lawtel, a companion service to Westlaw, has not responded to Legal Cheek’s request for comment.
This justice gender mix-up comes just weeks after the Supreme Court listed Lady Hale as a Lord in her first ever case as president.
While it’s safe to assume this was not done on purpose, one Legal Cheek commenter described the ‘Lord Hale’ debacle as “atrocious”. The court declined to comment on this, and the case listing does now say ‘Lady Hale’.