Anuja Ravindra Dhir KC (born 19 January 1968 at

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

) is a British circuit judge. Dhir was the first non-white

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility ...

to be appointed to sit at the

Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The ...

Early life

Born at

in 1968 of Indian heritage,www.ukwhoswho.com
/ref> Dhir was educated at

Harris Academy Harris Academy is a co-educational comprehensive school in the West End of Dundee, Scotland. Harris Academy was founded in 1885 and is the oldest state school in Dundee. Harris Academy is also one of the largest state run schools in Dundee in ...

before reading

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vari ...

at Dundee University, graduating with an

LLB Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1988. She then won a

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

scholarship and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

Gray's Inn in 1989. In 2018, Dhir received an

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

(Hon LLD) from Dundee University.

Career

Dhir practised as a barrister for 23 years, as counsel for both prosecution and defence, involved in serious criminal cases as well as cases involving national security and human rights. Previously a member of various Bar Council Committees including the Equality Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee and Law Reform Committee, she has been heavily involved in advocacy training in the UK and abroad: she was head of teacher training for Gray's Inn and has led training in India, Sri Lanka, Jamaica (death row cases), Bermuda, Bhutan, Malaysia, Singapore (for the AG), Zimbabwe and South Africa. Elected a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

in 2009, she

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister ...

and was appointed Recorder in 2010, before promotion as a Circuit Judge in 2012. In February 2017, at the age of 49, she became a

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility ...

at the

. Since 2015, she has been a tutor judge at the

Judicial College The Judicial College, formerly the Judicial Studies Board (JSB), established in 1979, is the organisation responsible for training judges in county, the Crown, and higher courts in England and Wales and tribunals judges in England & Wales, Scotl ...

. In 2018, Dhir was authorised to sit in the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...

Criminal Division. In November 2018 she made the headlines after sentencing an 18 year-old youth, who had threatened a motorist with a knife, already with a previous conviction for robbery with a knife, to a suspended sentence of imprisonment. A Governor of the Hackney City Academy School since 2016, Dhir also serves as a Court Assistant of the Haberdashers' Company.

Personal life

She has been married since 2002 to Nicholas Lavender KC who was appointed a High Court Judge (QBD), and

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed, in 2016,www.counselmagazine.co.uk
/ref> when Dhir became notionally entitled to the formal style of Lady Lavender, which she does not use. She has two sons and a daughter.

References

External links

Lady Lavender becomes first non-white Circuit Judge at Old Baileywww.judiciary.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhir, Anuja 1969 births Living people People from Dundee British people of Indian descent People educated at Harris Academy Alumni of the University of Dundee British barristers 21st-century English judges British King's Counsel Members of Gray's Inn