Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, QC, FRSA (born 12 May 1950), is a British barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. Baroness Kennedy is a former chair of the Human Genetics Commission, which advises Her Majesty's Government on ethical, social, and legal issues arising from developments in genetic science.
Lady Kennedy was born in Glasgow to a devoutly Roman Catholic family. She is one of four sisters born to Joshua Patrick and Mary Veronica (née Jones) Kennedy, both committed Labour activists. Her father, a printer with the Daily Record, was a trade union official. She attended Holyrood Secondary School in Glasgow, where she was appointed Head Girl.
Kennedy still regularly attends Mass and professes that her Catholicism "remains very much part of who I am", even though she eschews its more traditional values. She went on to study Law at London's Council of Legal Education.
Legal career
Among her many cases, Kennedy acted as junior counsel for child murderer Myra Hindley during the latter's 1974 trial for plotting to escape from Holloway.
Politics
Lady Kennedy rebels against her party whip in the House of Lords more frequently than any other Labour Peer, having a dissent rate of 33.3%. She was Chair of Charter 88 (1992–97) and is closely affiliated to the educational charity Common Purpose.
Her first partner was the actor Iain Mitchell, with whom she lived from 1978 until 1984, and by whom she has a son. In 1986, Kennedy married Dr Iain Louis Hutchison (a surgeon), with whom she has a daughter and a son.
Honours
She has received numerous academic awards, including:
Honorary Fellow, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), 2011
Honorary Doctorate of Law, Plymouth University, 2012
Broadcasting
Creator: Blind Justice, BBC TV, 1987
Presenter: Heart of the Matter, BBC TV, 1987
After Dark, Channel 4 and BBC4, 1987–2003
She presented many editions of this series, including the "drunk Oliver Reed" episode, where the actor verbally insulted and attempted to kiss feminist Kate Millett
Presenter: Raw Deal on Medical Negligence, BBC TV, 1989
Presenter: The Trial of 'Lady Chatterley's Lover', BBC Radio 4, 1990
Presenter: Time Gentlemen, Please, BBC Scotland, 1994 (Winner, Television Programme Award category, 1994 Industrial Journalism Awards)
Commissioner, BAFTA Inquiry into the future of the BBC, 1990
Public leadership
President, Helena Kennedy Foundation
President of the Board the Governors of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
Kennedy chaired the Power Commission (November 2005 – March 2006), which examined the problem of democratic disengagement in the United Kingdom. A report was produced which highlighted the "Myth of Apathy" and the lack of political engagement
Chair of Power 2010, which aimed to carry forward the concepts behind the Power Commission into the UK 2010 General Election
Patron of SafeHands for Mothers, a UK-based charity whose mission is to improve maternal and newborn health by harnessing the power of the visual, through the production of films.
Chair, Howard League's Commission of Inquiry into Violence in Penal Institutions for Young People (the final report, Banged Up, Beaten Up, Cutting Up, published in 1995)
Chair, Reading Borough Council's Commission of Inquiry into the health, environmental and safety aspects of the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston (final report Secrecy versus Safety, published in 1994)
Chair, Royal Colleges of Pathologists' and of Pædiatrics' Inquiry into Sudden Infant Death (producing a protocol for the investigation of such deaths in 2004)
As Commissioner of the National Commission for Education, she chaired a committee on widening participation in further education and the Commission's report, Learning Works, published in 1997.
Honours
Created a Life Peer, as Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, of Cathcart in the City of Glasgow on 27 October 1997
Grand Cross, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (2004)
