Baroness Helena Kennedy has been announced the winner of our 2022 Good Governance Award in recognition of dedicating her professional life giving voice to those who have least power within the system, championing civil liberties and promoting human rights.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, QC, FRSA, HonFRSE – barrister and Labour member of the House of Lords – has been named as the recipient of the 2022 Good Governance Award. She will be honoured at the Good Governance Institute’s (GGI) annual lecture on 22 September 2022.
Baroness Kennedy is one of the UK's most distinguished lawyers. She has practiced at the Bar for over 40 years in the field of criminal law and has conducted many of the leading cases in those years, including the Balcombe Street Siege, the Brighton bombing trial, the Guildford Four Appeal, Michael Bettany Espionage case, the Jihadist fertiliser bomb plot and the transatlantic bomb plot. She has championed law reform for women, especially relating to sexual and domestic violence and developed the defence of Battered Women's syndrome in the British courts.
She has chaired the British Council and the UK Human Genetics Commission. She has been a member of the House of Lords for over 20 years, where she chaired The European Union Sub-committee on Justice issues. She is the President of Justice, the British arm of the International Commission of Jurists. She is a member of the Microsoft Technology and Human Rights Advisory Council and a member of The British Academy. She has stepped down as Principal of Mansfield college, Oxford and become the new Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University. Helena is currently Director of the Institute of Human Rights at the global lawyers organisation, The International Bar Association. She is working across the world on promoting and protecting human rights.
