Anuja Dhir

Her Honour Judge Anuja Ravindra Dhir QC, (born 1968) is a British judge, and the first non-white judge to be appointed to the Old Bailey,

Life

Born in Dundee in 1968 to Indian immigrants, she was educated at Harris Academy before studying English and Scots law at Dundee University, graduating in 1988. She subsequently won a Gray’s Inn scholarship, being called to the bar in 1989. She practised as a barrister for 23 years, as both prosecutor and defence counsel.

Dhir was involved in serious criminal cases, and cases involving national security and human rights. She was a member of various Bar Council Committees including the Equality Committee, the Professional Conduct Committee and Law Reform Committee. She has been heavily involved in advocacy training in the UK and abroad: she was head of teacher training for Gray’s Inn and has led training in India, Sri Lanka, Jamaica (death row cases), Bermuda, Bhutan, Malaysia, Singapore (for the AG), Zimbabwe and South Africa.^[1]

Dhir was elected a bencher of Gray’s Inn in 2009, appointed as a Recorder in 2010 and became a full-time circuit judge in 2012. In 2016 she was appointed as a Governor of the Hackney City Academy School. In February 2017, at the age of 49, she was appointed as Old Bailey Judge.^[1]

Notes

External links

• Anuja Dhir becomes first non-white circuit judge at Old Bailey