Anuja Dhir
Anuja Ravindra Dhir (born 19 January 1968 at Dundee, Scotland) is a British circuit judge. Dhir was the first non-white judge to be appointed to sit at the Old Bailey. Early life. Born at Dundee in 1968 of Indian heritage, Dhir was educated at Harris Academy before reading law at Dundee University, graduating with an LLB in 1988. She then won a Gray's Inn scholarship and was called to the Bar Gray's Inn in 1989. In 2018, Dhir received an honorary degree (Hon LLD) from Dundee University. Career. Dhir practised as a barrister for 23  years, as counsel for both prosecution and defence, involved in serious criminal cases as well as cases involving national security and human rights. Previously a member of various Bar Council Committees including the Equality Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee and Law Reform Committee, she has been heavily involved in advocacy training in the UK and abroad: she was head of teacher training for Gray's Inn and has led training in India, Sri Lanka, Jamaica (death row cases), Bermuda, Bhutan, Malaysia, Singapore (for the AG), Zimbabwe and South Africa. Elected a Bencher of Gray's Inn in 2009, she took  silk and was appointed Recorder in 2010, before promotion as a Circuit Judge in 2012. In February 2017, at the age of 49, she became a Judge at the Old Bailey. Since 2015, she has been a tutor judge at the Judicial College. In 2018, Dhir was authorised to sit in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division. In November 2018 she made the headlines after sentencing an 18 year-old youth, who had threatened a motorist with a knife, already with a previous conviction for robbery with a knife, to a suspended sentence of imprisonment. A Governor of the Hackney  City Academy School since 2016, Dhir also serves as a Court Assistant of the Haberdashers' Company. Personal life. She has been married since 2002 to Nicholas Lavender QC who was appointed a High Court Judge (QBD), and knighted, in 2016, when Dhir became notionally entitled to the formal style of Lady Lavender, which she does not use. She has two sons and a daughter.