Mary Arden (judge)

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Mary Howarth Mance, Baroness Mance, DBE, PC (born 23 January 1947), known by her maiden name as Dame Mary Arden and styled The Rt Hon. Lady Justice Arden, is a British judge.

She was born in Liverpool. Her grandfather was a partner in Gamon Arden and Co, a Liverpool firm of solicitors. Her father Eric and brother Roger also joined the family firm. She was brought up in south Liverpool and educated at Huyton College. She read law at Girton College, Cambridge, and took an LLM at Harvard Law School in 1970. She married fellow barrister Jonathan Mance in the Lady Chapel at Liverpool Cathedral in 1973. They had three children together.

She was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1971, and joined Lincoln's Inn in 1973. She practised at Erskine Chambers from 1971 to 1993, mainly in company law. She became a QC in 1986, and served as Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster.

She and her husband were both appointed to the High Court in 1993. In April 1993, she became the first (and, as of 2007, only) female High Court judge to be assigned to the Chancery Division, the year after Ann Ebsworth became the first female High Court judge to be assigned to the Queen's Bench Division. As is customary, she received the DBE at the same time. Her husband joined the Queen's Bench Division in October 1993, making them the first (and, as of 2007, only) married couple to both sit on the High Court bench. She was chairman of the Law Commission from 1996 to 1999.

Her husband became a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1999. A year and a half later, in October 2000, she was named to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, becoming only the third female judge to sit on the Court of Appeal (after Elizabeth Butler-Sloss in 1988 and Brenda Hale in 1999). She also replaced Lord Justice Laws as its youngest member. As is customary, she was at the same time sworn of the Privy Council. She and her husband became the first (and, as of 2007, only) married couple to both sit on the Court of Appeal.

Her husband was elevated to the Peerage on his appointment as a Law Lord in October 2005. It was speculated that she may become the first woman to sit as a Law Lord;[1][2] she may yet become the second, in the wake of Baroness Hale.