Patricia Scotland

Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, (born 19 August 1955), is a British diplomat, barrister and politician, serving as the sixth secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Scotland was born on 19 August 1955 in Dominica, in the British Windward Islands.

She was the tenth child of twelve born to Roman Catholic parents, a Dominican mother and Antiguan father.

When she was two years old, her family emigrated to Walthamstow in north-east London, where she attended Chapel End Primary School and Walthamstow School for Girls.

She then went on to Mid Essex Technical College in Chelmsford, where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from University College London which at that time was part of the University of London.

She was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1977, specialising in family law, and was called to the Dominican bar in 1978.

In 1991, Scotland became the first black woman to be appointed a Queen's Counsel.

She later founded the (now closed) 1 Gray's Inn Square barristers chambers.

Scotland was named as a Millennium Commissioner on 17 February 1994, and was a member of the Commission for Racial Equality.

She was elevated to the House of Lords in 1997 and, as a British Labour Party politician, served in ministerial positions within the UK Government, most notably as the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland.

She is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica, where she was born.

Early in 1997, she was elected as a Bencher of the Middle Temple.

She received a life peerage on a Labour Party list of working peers and was made Baroness Scotland of Asthal, of Asthal in the County of Oxfordshire on 30 October 1997.

From 1999 to 2001, Scotland was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where she was responsible, among others, for the UK Government's diplomatic relations with North America, the Caribbean, Overseas Territories, Consular Division, British Council, administration and all Parliamentary business in the House of Lords.

Scotland introduced the International Criminal Court Bill which sought to ratify the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court into UK law.

She established the Pro Bono Lawyers Panel, a panel of British-based lawyers who provided legal advice on a pro bono basis to United Kingdom nationals imprisoned in foreign countries.

She created an Overseas Territories Council for the Caribbean and reformed and restructured the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Consular Division to be able to respond more effectively to emergencies and disasters abroad such as the 11 September attacks.

In 2001 she became Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department, and was made a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom.

She was the minister formally responsible for civil justice and the reform of civil law including the comprehensive reform of land registration leading to the Land Registration Act 2002.

She was also formally responsible for international affairs at the Lord Chancellor's Department and was appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair as the UK Alternate Representative to the European Convention and was given primary responsibility for the negotiations in relation to the Charter of Rights which were successfully concluded in 2003.

During this period, she consolidated the strong relations created with all the applicant countries through the FAHR programme and the member states and was subsequently awarded the Polish Medal for her contribution to the reform and development of Law in Poland.

Scotland was an unsuccessful contender for a cabinet position in 2003, when Blair reportedly considered appointing her Leader of the House of Lords.

In 2003, Scotland was made Minister of State for the Criminal Justice System and Law Reform at the Home Office and deputy to the Home Secretary.

She served in that post until 2007 under three Home Secretaries: David Blunkett, Charles Clarke and John Reid.

While at the Home Office she was responsible for major reform of the criminal justice system.

She created the Office of Criminal Justice Reform which helped to create and support the National Criminal Justice Board and the Local Criminal Justice Board.

Having acted as chair, she then created three Alliances to reduce re-offending (Corporate, Civic and Faith based Alliance) and the Corporate Alliance against Domestic Violence.

She created an advisory group on victims and the Criminal Justice Centre, Victims and Witness units.

Scotland created Inside Justice Week and the Justice Awards.

She introduced the Crime and Victims Act, which created the new offence of familial homicide that was successfully used to prosecute the killers of Baby P who would otherwise have escaped responsibility for his death.

Scotland continued her responsibility for international affairs at the Home Office and continued to represent the UK in a number of international negotiations such as those relating to extradition.

On 28 June 2007, Scotland was appointed Attorney General by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

She was the first woman to hold the office since its foundation in 1315.

During her time as Attorney General, Scotland continued to promote pro bono work by lawyers and created an international and Schools Pro Bono Committee which was responsible for co-ordinating pro bono work.

She created the Pro Bono Awards and Pro Bono Heroes.

She also created the Attorney General's Youth Network.

She was the last Attorney General for England and Wales also to be the Attorney General for Northern Ireland before the devolution of justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly, and appointment of a separate Attorney General for Northern Ireland.

She became instead Advocate General for Northern Ireland, the UK government's chief advisor on Northern Ireland law, for a brief period until Labour left office.

She was elected at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and took office on 1 April 2016.

She is the first woman to hold the post.