Heilbron, Dame Rose

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HEILBRON, DAME ROSE

HEILBRON, DAME ROSE (1914–2005), English lawyer. Born in Liverpool, Rose Heilbron was admitted to the bar in 1939 and rapidly established a reputation as a criminal advocate of exceptional ability. In 1949, she was made a king's counsel and in 1956 she was made recorder (chief criminal judge) of Burnley, the first woman to be appointed a recorder in Britain. Vice president of the British Federation of Business and Professional Women, she was frequently cited as an example of the professional advance of women in a man's world. From 1974 until her retirement in 1988 she served as a Judge of the High Court (Family Division), the second British woman to be appointed to the High Court. She was created a dame in 1974.

[Israel Finestein]