Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
The Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC is the 6th Commonwealth Secretary-General. She is the 2nd Secretary-General from the Caribbean and the 1st woman to hold the post. She has served within the UK government as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland and is the first woman to hold the post since it was created in 1315. Patricia Scotland joined the House of Lords in 1997 and served as a minister in the Foreign Office, Home Office and the Lord Chancellor’s Department. Scotland is a barrister who received her Law degree (LLB Hons) from the University of London in 1976 (in association with University College London) and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1977, specialising in family and children’s law. She was also called to the Dominican bar in 1978.
