Female lawyers should not be forced to wear heels, says Baroness Hale

'There's still a lot more progress to be made' says first female president of Supreme Court

Baroness Hale of Richmond, who is about to stand down as president of the Supreme Court (PA)

The UK’s most senior judge has condemned law firms that demand female lawyers wear high heels, as she lamented the lack of “progress” on sex discrimination in the legal profession.

Baroness Hale, who is about to retire as president of the Supreme Court, said in an interview said she was also “shocked” some women barristers were paid less money than their male counterparts for similar work.

“I’ve heard some shocking stories about women barristers being charged out at lower rates for the equivalent work and they’re not realising because they don’t know what their clerks are asking for their male counterparts,” she told the Evening Standard.

Women advocates were also not being given the opportunity to tackle the biggest and most significant cases, including those argued before the Supreme Court, Lady Hale said.

This could not be put down a lack of capable barristers because some firms have consciously tried to instruct equal numbers of men and women “and it works perfectly well”, she added.

The judge warned that women in law were still being held back by antiquated notions of smart dress.

“Yet one does again hear stories of women being required to wear high heels by employers," she added.

“Requiring neatness, tidiness, cleanliness is one thing, requiring a particular image is another.”

Baroness Hale has been a member of the Supreme Court since its inception in 2009 and its president since 2017.

During that time she has presided over a string of politically weighty cases, including the Miller judgments over whether the government could trigger Article 50 and kickstart the Brexit process, and more recently the case which saw Boris Johnson’s effort to prorogue parliament deemed unlawful.

When asked what her proudest achievements on the UK’s highest court she cited both those cases.

She also revealed she hopes to use her retirement from the Supreme Court to write a memoir. Baroness Hale will also take up an honorary position as a professor of law at University College London.

Beyond the legal profession, the 74-year-old said she expected the courts would push ahead on entrenching greater equality in the law.

Lady Hale at her own valedictory ceremony in the Supreme Court (PA)

Many issues such as non-discrimination, workplace harassment and equal pay have been on the statute book for a while but were yet to be put into practice, she suggested.

“There’s still a lot more progress to be made," she said. “The balance between rewarding seniority and experience when people are doing basically the same job is a really difficult one but … needs to be thought about and tackled.”