Helena Kennedy's practice of law as a barrister – she is a member of the Doughty Street Chambers in London – has involved a large number of prominent cases. These include the Brighton Bombing, the Michael Bettany espionage trial, the Guildford Four appeal and the bombing of the Israeli embassy. She has also acted for many battered women who have killed their husbands.

She was the British member of the recent International Bar Association Task Force on Terrorism. She is currently chairing an inquiry for the Royal College of Pathologists and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health into sudden infant death, in the aftermath of miscarriages of justice where mothers were wrongly convicted of murdering their babies.

As a life peer, she also participates in the House of Lords on issues concerned with human rights, civil liberties, social justice and culture.

Many different fields
Her unique skills as an advocate and social reformer have taken her into many different fields of activity. From 1992 to 1997, she was chair of Charter 88, the constitutional reform group, which persuaded the new Labour government to make devolution and human rights legislation central planks of their manifesto. She is also on the board of the Independent newspaper.

From 1994 to 2002, she was chair of the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), one of the most innovative and cutting-edge arts promoters and producers in the United Kingdom. She has also, since 1998, been chair of the British Council, the most successful cultural organisation in the world, which she has led through a period of dynamic change.

On top of that, she is currently chair of the Human Genetics Commission, which advises the UK government on the ethical, social and legal issues arising from developments in genetic science.

Desire to see change
Unlike most Queen's Counsel, Helena – who grew up in Glasgow – has a working-class background. She has said that her career in the courts started with an active trade in representing fellow Scots because solicitors thought she would be able to translate. But it is her ability to communicate rather than translate that has been the basis of her achievements, with her desire to see change being the source of her strength and energy. She is an inspiring orator, with a great ability to make difficult subjects accessible.

Promoting education
Because education altered her own life so dramatically, she has been very active in promoting greater participation in it. She was a commissioner on the Hamlyn National Commission on Education from 1991 to 1993. Her 1997 report Learning Works, for the Further Education Funding Council, is recognised as a seminal work, and a foundation to help disadvantaged students into higher education has been established in her name: The Helena Kennedy Foundation.

In 1993, Kennedy became the first chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, a post from which she stepped down in 2001. She is now president of the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University.

Current appointments
Past appointments

	For more about Helena Kennedy, see … Writing Broadcasting Speaking Honours and awards

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