Helen Mountfield, (born 14 March 1967) is a British barrister practising in

administrative Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

, and equality law. She has been Principal of

Mansfield College, Oxford Mansfield College, Oxford is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. The college was founded in Birmingham in 1838 as a college for Nonconformist students. It moved to Oxford in 1886 and was renamed Man ...

since 2018.

Early life and education

Mountfield was born on 14 March 1967 in London, England to Sir Robin Mountfield and Anne Mountfield. She was educated at Crown Woods School, a comprehensive school in London. She studied modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford, graduating with a first class

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree. She then moved into law, and studied for a diploma in law (DipLaw) and the

Common Professional Examination The Common Professional Examination/Postgraduate Diploma in Law (CPE/PGDL) is a postgraduate law course in England and Wales that is taken by non-law graduates (graduates who have a degree in a discipline that is not law or not a qualifying law ...

at City University. She later studied for a diploma in European Union Law (Dip Eur. Law) at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...

Career

Legal career

Mountfield was called to the Bar at

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 W ...

in 1991. She was a founding member of

Matrix Chambers Matrix Chambers is a barristers' chambers in Gray's Inn London, Brussels, and Geneva. Founded in April 2000 by 22 barristers from 7 different chambers, it now has over 90 independent and specialist lawyers who work throughout the UK and interna ...

in 2000 from which she still practises. She has been a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

since May 2009, and a Deputy High Court Judge since 2013. She was appointed

Queen's Counsel 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 o ...

(QC) on 22 March 2010. She has also been a judge of the Courts of Appeal, Jersey and Guernsey since 2020. She was sworn in as Judge of the Jersey Court of Appeal in April 2020. Notable cases she has been involved in include: '' R (E) v Governing Body of JFS''; '' R (Tigere) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills''; and ''

R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union ''R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union'' is a United Kingdom constitutional law case decided by the United Kingdom Supreme Court on 24 January 2017, which ruled that the British Government (the executive) might not i ...

''.

Academic career

In January 2018, she was announced as the next Principal of

: she took up the appointment in September 2018. She has co-authored seven editions of ''Blackstone's Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998''; a monograph concerning the Human Rights Act 1998.

Personal life

In 2005, Mountfield married Damian Tambini. They have three daughters.

Selected works

* * * * * * * *

References

External links

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountfield, Helen Principals of Mansfield College, Oxford 1967 births Living people British barristers British women lawyers 21st-century King's Counsel British legal scholars Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford English King's Counsel Women legal scholars