Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal PC QC was born on 19 August 1955 in Dominica.
As a child she moved to the UK with her family and grew up in the East of London. She trained as a lawyer and became the first black woman to be appointed a Queen’s Counsel (QC) in 1991. At the age of 35 she was also the youngest woman ever to be made a QC.
Baroness Scotland then went on to become the first black woman appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge, Recorder and Master of Middle Temple. She joined the House of Lords in 1997 as Baroness Scotland of Asthal and went on to serve as a minister in the Foreign Office, Home Office and Lord Chancellor’s Department.
Baroness Scotland became the first woman to hold the post of appointed Attorney General in 2007, thereby making her the first woman to fill the role since it was created in 1315. She then went on to found the Eliminate Domestic Violence Global Foundation in 2011 and also to become the sixth Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations, taking office on 1 April 2016 – making her the first woman to also hold this post.
Baroness Scotland has many other significant achievements including being appointed Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to South Africa in 2012 and in 2014 being elected as the Alderman of Bishopsgate in the City of London.
