Once regarded as on the radical left of the Bar and anything but mainstream, Vera Baird, QC, 57, finally came in from being an articulate voice of criticism outside the Government and joined it. One of the first two-woman team at the law officers, the Solicitor-General has turned her advocacy talents - honed through years of criminal defence work (she was at Tooks Court, the chambers of Michael Mansfield, QC) in which she acted in several landmark cases involving battered women who kill - to criminal justice policy areas such as rape and domestic violence. She is the author of several publications on those issues. Elected Labour MP for Redcar in 2001 she joined the Government in 2006 in the Department for Constitutional Affairs, where her responsibilities included legal aid. Her interests include travel, reading, running and Zack, her rescued Bedlington Terrier. She was widowed in 1979 and has two stepsons.

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