As part of City’s celebration of International Women’s Day 2021, City’s President, Professor Sir Paul Curran has selected the City Law School Senior Lecturer and Partner at Simpson Millar law firm to join the wall of fame.
By Mr John Stevenson (Senior Communications Officer), Published
Angela Jackman has been selected as one of City’s Extraordinary Women as part of International Women’s Day celebrations this year.
For International Women’s Day in 2016, City began compiling a display of female staff and graduates who have made a significant impact through their work, called ‘Extraordinary Women at City’.
Since then, City's President, Professor Sir Paul Curran, has annually selected one Extraordinary Woman from City to add to the project’s display wall.
Angela is delighted with her selection as City’s Extraordinary Woman in 2021, and says:
I feel very honoured to be joining a display with such inspirational predecessors. I have always been committed to challenging the inequalities that we face as women and particularly so, as a woman of colour. I am especially pleased to be recognised following the deeply challenging year we have faced, marked by COVID-19 and the societal changes we are pressing for in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Professor Sir Paul Curran, said:
I am delighted to add Angela Jackman to the illustrious list of Extraordinary Women for promoting the legal rights of vulnerable or disadvantaged adults and children through her work as a solicitor and academic. City women have been achieving the extraordinary since our University was established and we are proud to celebrate this chapter of a remarkable story of achievement. Women such as Angela inspire us because they are ready to challenge, to push the boundaries of what can be accomplished and to work to make life better for others.
Angela has enjoyed a distinguished career as a solicitor and academic. In December 2020, she was appointed an Honorary Queen’s Counsel (QC Honoris Causa) by Her Majesty the Queen.
Angela, a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, joined the City Law School in September 2015 as a Senior Lecturer/CPD Consultant.
Her areas of specialisation are Education, Mental Capacity and Human Rights Law and she is cited as a leader in these three fields in Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners 2020/21. Angela practised at Hackney Community Law Centre in a number of social welfare areas for several years following qualification. She subsequently specialized in private practice in Education, Mental Capacity and Community Care law. Angela is also an Accredited Practitioner under the Law Society's Mental Capacity (Welfare) Accreditation Scheme.
Angela has had a number of reported cases across the disciplines of Education, Community Care and Court of Protection. Her particularly high profile cases include G v St Gregory's Catholic Science College [2011] EWHC 1452 (Admin), the "cornrows school exclusion" judicial review case, in which the High Court held that a school's policy prohibiting African-Caribbean boys from wearing their hair in cornrows resulted in indirect racial discrimination.
Angela also had conduct of the Supreme Court case A and B v Secretary of State for Health [2017] UKSC 41 in which two women from Northern Ireland challenged the Secretary of State for Health's then refusal to permit women from Northern Ireland to access NHS abortion services in England. The appellants lost by a narrow majority of 3:2 but the case was instrumental in a subsequent successful political campaign which resulted in the government conceding the primary issue. Angela subsequently secured compensation for A and B from the UK Government in a successful application to the European Court of Human Rights.
Angela's practice directly influences her teaching at City. She specialises in Public Law, Human Rights Law and Legal Skills. Angela is Programme Director for the LLB in Legal Practice which includes a pathway for the trailblazing Solicitor Apprenticeship scheme. She supports students both academically and with their development of legal skills in the workplace. She also delivers external CPD training to practitioners.
Angela is a member of City’s Network for Racial Justice and Co-Chair of City’s Working Group for the success and progression of students of colour. She is also a member of the Law Society’s Human Rights Committee and an expert panel member of the Strategic Legal Fund for Vulnerable Migrants.
Angela was given an award for Outstanding Achievement at the Legal Aid Practitioners Group Silver Jubilee Awards Ceremony in June 2009. She was also Highly Commended in the category for Solicitor of the Year-Private Practice at the Law Society Excellence Awards in 2014. She won an Eight Women Award in 2014 following a social media public poll for the most influential women of colour in the UK. Angela won Lawyer of the Year at the Modern Law Awards 2017/18 in January 2018.