Harris Society Annual Lecture | Lady Justice Carr

Lady Justice Carr

Keble College’s Law Society, the Harris Society, is named in honour of former law tutor Professor James (‘Jim’) Harris FBA. It organises an annual lecture, this year delivered in the College on 16 May 2023 by the Rt Hon Lady Justice Carr DBE.

Before being appointed to the bench, Lady Justice Carr practised as a barrister specialising in commercial law and insurance law. She has held significant leadership roles throughout her career, including Chair of the Professional Negligence Bar Association and Head of Chambers at 4 New Square. Lady Justice Carr was appointed to the High Court Bench in 2013 and became a Lady Justice of the Court of Appeal in 2020.

Lady Justice Carr’s lecture was entitled ‘"Delicate Plants," "Loose Cannons," or "A Marriage of True Minds"? The Role of Academic Literature in Judicial Decision-Making’. It was attended by 80 members of the University in the O’Reilly Lecture Theatre, including several academics who were no doubt relieved to find that they were not always ‘delicate plants’ or ‘loose cannons’. The Lecture was introduced by the current Harris Society Co-Presidents, Kirsten Hay (2021 Jurisprudence), Isobel Salzedo (2021 Jurisprudence) and Samuel Reynolds (2021 Jurisprudence). It was followed by a lively question-and-answer session in which various topics were debated, including the evolving opinions of legal commentators, the respective roles of judges and legal scholars in shaping the law, and the agendas and motivations of legal academics. The debate also explored whether scope for academic contributions to the business of judging differs depending on the area of law in issue.

The debate continued afterwards during a drinks reception for all attendees and well into the evening over dinner with Lady Justice Carr, attended by the Law tutors and, as is now traditional, the second-year undergraduates. The Harris Society acknowledges its thanks to Slaughter & May for its support for the Lecture, the reception and the Dinner, and to the college staff who contributed to making a successful and enjoyable event for all concerned.

Lady Justice Carr's lecture will soon be published in the Oxford University Commonwealth Law Journal, and, to add to her success, she has been appointed the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from October of this year.