Rose Heilbron: Legal Pioneer of the 20th Century: Inspiring Advocate who became England's First Woman Judge
...[A] trailblazer for women. Hilary Heilbron's biography of her mother,...tastes of postwar Britain like the rock sold on Rhyl beach by one of Rose's clients who was accused of breaching rationing orders. In an age of true austerity and deprivation, an attractive young woman achieves celebrity status through her advocacy skills and the acres of newsprint (invariably under a headline describing her as a Portia) that they provoked. It is an astonishing story and Heilbron tells it well, with as much objectivity as one could reasonably expect from a (justifiably) proud daughter...the range and quantity of Heilbron's work is impressive…[Rose Heilbron's] contribution to the development of the legal system is unique and permanent. Hilary Heilbron's entertaining book captures the legal and social atmosphere in which her mother climbed to the top of her profession and started the process (still continuing) of removing the barriers against women. --David Pannick, The Times, Nov 22, 2012Star who raised the Bar..this biography of an extraordinary woman….Rose Heilbron was the Margaret Thatcher of the law, a woman who broke through the glass ceiling by sheer force of personality and talent…The list of firsts in Rose's career was unique…This lucidly written and gripping biography …is a fitting filial memorial to a great woman. --Jonathan Goldberg QC, The Jewish Chronicle, Nov 2, 2012Rose Heilbron was one of the most prominent and influential English lawyers of the past century....Hilary Heilbron adds intimate and vivid touches to the portrait of the private Rose as wife, mother, home- and holiday-maker which no other author could (or maybe would) have essayed. But it was the public Rose who inspired a new generation of female advocates; and if more than half of those called to the Bar this year are women, she can claim the posthumous credit. The young Margaret Thatcher, when a Bar student, presciently praised Rose as a role model in an article in the Sunday Graphic; she was indeed as much a pioneer in the field of law as Lady Thatcher was in the field of politics. The author is properly proud of her mother and in this book, which supplies a necessary chapter in legal history, she has done her proud. --Michael Beloff, Times Literary Supplement, Feb 1, 2013[an] inspirational pioneer...But it wasn't her novelty that made Rose's career at the Bar such a glittering success. She broke the mould because she was a brilliant advocate and a master of her brief...Rose's daughter gives us in this book a personal and warm insight into Rose, the advocate, with a comprehensive account of a glittering variety of her legal cases from the notorious to the more mundane...the working mum who always found time for her family and...who cared about equality and justice for other women... --From the Foreword by Cherie Blair QC...this biography is a highly readable account of an extraordinary individual and is thoroughly recommended. It discusses with rigour and rare insight the signal career of a great advocate and no less distinguished jurist, Dame Rose Heilbron....These well-written pages provide a detailed and masterfully woven account of the life and times of an advocate who blazed a trail for so many others...a successful barrister, wife and mother, who defended her clients ably and fearlessly, one who also fought to advance the grater cause of equality by her example and public speaking....Setting aside her gender, this biography is a study of the success of a good citizen, a great lawyer and judge....But if we add that she was the first female to take silk and judge her fellow and sister citizens..., and that through the skill of her advocacy she also saved several from the gallows, to list only some of her achievements, it seems obvious this book is long overdue and well-deserving of our interest and --Justice Gilles Renaud, Law Society Journal, February 2013[an] inspirational pioneer...But it wasn't her novelty that made Rose's career at the Bar such a glittering success. She broke the mould because she was a brilliant advocate and a master of her brief...Rose's daughter gives us in this book a personal and warm insight into Rose, the advocate, with a comprehensive account of a glittering variety of her legal cases from the notorious to the more mundane...the working mum who always found time for her family and...who cared about equality and justice for other women... --From the Foreword by Cherie Blair QC...this biography is a highly readable account of an extraordinary individual and is thoroughly recommended. It discusses with rigour and rare insight the signal career of a great advocate and no less distinguished jurist, Dame Rose Heilbron....These well-written pages provide a detailed and masterfully woven account of the life and times of an advocate who blazed a trail for so many others...a successful barrister, wife and mother, who defended her clients ably and fearlessly, one who also fought to advance the grater cause of equality by her example and public speaking....Setting aside her gender, this biography is a study of the success of a good citizen, a great lawyer and judge....But if we add that she was the first female to take silk and judge her fellow and sister citizens..., and that through the skill of her advocacy she also saved several from the gallows, to list only some of her achievements, it seems obvious this book is long overdue and well-deserving of our interest and praise. ... --Justice Gilles Renaud, Law Society Journal, February 2013