Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws
The Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2025 | |
| Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University | |
| In office 26 July 2018 – 8 May 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Winston, Baron Winston |
| Succeeded by | Uriah Rennie |
| Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford | |
| In office September 2011 – 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Diana Walford |
| Succeeded by | Helen Mountfield |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| Assumed office 27 October 1997 Life peerage | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Helena Ann Kennedy 12 May 1950 Glasgow, Scotland |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse |
Iain Louis Hutchison
(m. 1986) |
| Domestic partner | Iain Mitchell (1978–1984) |
| Children | 3 |
| Occupation | Barrister, television presenter |
| Website | helenakennedy |
Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws (born 12 May 1950), is a Scottish barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, from 2011 to 2018. A Bencher of Gray's Inn, an Honorary Writer to the Signet and the recipient of 42 Honorary Degrees from many universities including those of Glasgow and Edinburgh in recognition of work on women and the law and on widening participation in higher education. She is President of Justice, the law reform think tank, and is also director of the International Bar Association's Institute of Human Rights. In 2024, Kennedy succeeded Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury as Chair of the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom.