92
Number One
POWERLIST 2010
RT HON BARONESS SCOTLAND
Attorney general
1
Photographed by John Ferguson
Britain’s most infl uential person of African or African Caribbean heritage is Baroness Scotland of
Asthal, QC, the attorney general. She is the chief legal offi cer of the Crown, representing the Queen
and government in court and advising the government on complex legal matters that can have
international ramifi cations. Indeed, her advice could decide whether or not the country went to
war. Of course, this is far from her fi rst fi rst. Patricia Scotland has spent her life being the No1.
She was the fi rst black woman in Britain to take silk, which she did at the age of just 35, making
her the country’s youngest person to become a Queens Council since William Pitt the Younger
(1759-1806); she is also the fi rst female attorney general since 1315 when the post was
created; and she was the fi rst black woman to be a government minister. Born in Dominica,
she grew up in Walthamstow, east London, one of 12 siblings, and became a barrister
after graduating with a law degree from the University of London in 1976. She went on to
specialise in family law. On the following page she articulates her vision for the future of
the Powerlist. It was these thoughts, which she fi rst mentioned at a dinner hosted by our
title sponsor JPMorgan, that gave us the idea for the Powerlist Foundation, the charity,
which, as we go to press, we are in the process of setting up.
PowerList10_IS02_P092-094.indd 1 07/09/2009 22:01
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132