UK to get first ever female Lord Chief Justice after 755 years

For the first time since the position's inception more than 750 years ago, the next lord chief justice of Britain will be a woman.The final two candidates to lead the judiciary in England and Wales are Dame Sue Carr, 58, an appeal court judge, and Dame Victoria Sharp, 67, a senior high court judge.

Since Lord Chief Justice is currently a title only used by men, British constitutional law may need to be changed to accommodate the title "Lady Chief Justice," reported the Daily Mail.

Since the position was first created in 1268, more than 100 men have held it.

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First woman to fill the position

However, the first woman to fill the position is anticipated to be announced within the next two weeks by Alex Chalk, the Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary.

Before Chalk and the Prime Minister's final decision is approved by the King, a carefully curatedpanel narrowed the field of candidates down to the top two.

The leading candidate to succeed departing Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett is Dame Victoria Sharp, whose twin brother is former Goldman Sachs financier Richard Sharp, who resigned as BBC chairman last month.

She is known for putting in long hours; she and her doctor husband sometimes work 14-hour days while raising their four children. In court, she once even experienced labour.

When she was awarded a law doctorate at Bristol University, academic Professor David Clarke said of her: 'She was convinced that if she had not dedicated herself to her job as she did by rejecting any leave on the birth of any of her children, she would have been significantly disadvantaged; as she puts it, if you were not there in chambers, you did not receive briefs and you had no job.'

A more "outwardly confident personality" is said to characterise Dame Sue, a Court of Appeal judge since April 2020.

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A legal expert told The Daily Telegraph that she would be more suited to handle the role's public-facing duties and liaison with the Government and the Lord Chancellor.

The mother-of-three, who received her education at Trinity College Cambridge and Wycombe Abbey School in Buckinghamshire, has said that feminism means "having that true freedom of choice."

'So perhaps you could be prime minister, but if actually you really want to be a painter or teach riding and your circumstances permit it, that is what you should do.'

When it comes to dealing with court backlogs, which this month hit their greatest level since October, the next lord chief judge will have a full in-tray.

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