Patricia Scotland
Born in Dominica on August 19, 1955, the Rt Hon Patricia Scotland currently serves as the sixth Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. Scotland, who immigrated to the United Kingdom with her family and is a lawyer by profession, is a woman of many firsts.
Her appointment as Secretary-General some four years ago made her the first woman as well as the second Caribbean person to hold the position. She also wrote her name in the history books in 1991 when she became the first Black woman as well as the youngest woman to be appointed as Queen’s Counsel (QC) at the age of 35. Her appointment as Deputy High Court Judge, Recorder and Master of Middle Temple, also made her the first Black woman to hold that position.
Following her appointment as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland in 2007, Scotland became the first Black woman to hold that position since it was created in 1315.
