Liverpool’s two retiring bishops and the UK’s most senior female judge are to be awarded honorary degrees by the University of Liverpool this week.
Bishop James Jones is the former Bishop of Liverpool who was appointed by the Home Secretary to chair the Hillsborough Independent Panel in 2009. He continues as an advisor to the Home Secretary on Hillsborough.
Urban regeneration
He served as the city’s most senior Anglican minister from 1998 until his retirement earlier this year. During that time he was instrumental in the urban regeneration of the city, championing various community-led regeneration projects including the New Deal for Communities programme.
Under his leadership, the Diocese of Liverpool pioneered new ways to enable the Church to connect with society and he also set up Faiths4Change, an organisation working across communities to engage local people in the transformation of their environment.
A member of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, he has chaired the Department for International Affairs and acted as its representative on the International Co-ordination of the Roman Catholic Church for the Holy Land. In March 2009 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him to the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue and in 2012 he celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood, before retiring as Archbishop earlier this year.
The Bishops will be awarded Doctorates of Laws at the ceremonies at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool on Thursday 12 December.
The UK’s most senior female judge, The Right Honourable The Baroness Hale of Richmond, will receive a Doctor of Laws from the University. Baroness Hale spent 18 years as an academic specialising in family and social welfare law. In 1984 she became the first woman to serve on the Law Commission, where the work of her team led to major legislation such as the Children Act 1989 and the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
One of first Supreme Court judges
In 1994 she was appointed a High Court Judge, was promoted to the Court of Appeal in 1999, and became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2004. In 2009 she became one of the first Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, the highest court in the land. She has been President of the UK Association of Women Judges since its foundation in 2003 and was President of the International Association of Women Judges from 2010 to 2012.
Professor Sir Howard Newby, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, said: “Our honorary graduates have had distinguished careers which are guided by principles of justice and equality. They are an inspirational example to our graduates at these ceremonies who are just starting out in their own careers.”
