Alison Russell
{{Short description|British judge (born 1958)}}
{{For-text|the colonial service lawyer|William Alison Russell|the Canadian singer-songwriter|Allison Russell}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix =
| name = Dame Alison Russell
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DBE|sep=,|size=100%}}
| image = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (Tudor crown).svg
| imagesize = 100px
| caption = Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
| office = Justice of the High Court
| term_start = 13 January 2014
| term_end = 2 October 2024
| monarch = Charles III
| predecessor =
| successor =
| office2 =
| term_start2 =
| term_end2 =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|6|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = Harrogate, England
| birth_name = Alison Hunter Russell
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = British
| spouse =
| alma_mater = Polytechnic of the South Bank
| profession = Barrister
| occupation = Judge
| monarch1 =
}}
Dame Alison Hunter Russell, DBE (born 17 June 1958), is a retired judge of the High Court of England and Wales.{{cite web|title=Senior judiciary|url=http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about-the-judiciary/who-are-the-judiciary/senior-judiciary-list|website=Courts and Tribunals Judiciary|accessdate=19 October 2014}}
Early life and education
Russell was born in 1958 in Harrogate to a Scottish family. She was educated at Wellington School, Ayr and the Polytechnic of the South Bank.‘RUSSELL, Alison Hunter’, Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014{{cite book|title=Whitaker's Shorts 2016: Law and Order|year=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=9781472921994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3c8CwAAQBAJ}}
Career
Russell was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1983. She was appointed a recorder in 2004.{{cite web|url=http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed123240|title=Alison Russell QC appointed to the High Court Bench|publisher=Family Law Week|date=19 December 2013}}
Russell became a King's Counsel in 2008. She practised at 1GC Family Law in London, specialising in family law and human rights.{{cite web|url=http://www.familylaw.co.uk/news_and_comment/First-High-Court-judge-to-be-formally-addressed-as-Ms-Justice-22052014-015#.V3cDUFdqmDA|title=First High Court judge to be formally addressed as Ms Justice|first=Matthias|last=Mueller|date=23 May 2014|publisher=Family Law}}
Russell was appointed as a judge of the High Court of Justice on 13 January 2014, assigned to the Family Division. She became the first judge to be formally addressed as "Ms Justice".{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/may/21/high-court-judge-ms-justice|work=The Guardian|title=High court judge is first to be formally addressed as Ms Justice|first=Own|last=Bowcott|date=22 May 2014|accessdate=1 July 2016}}{{cite book|title=Learning Legal Rules: A Students' Guide to Legal Method and Reasoning|page=21|first1=James|last1=Holland|first2=Julian|last2=Webb|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=9780198728436|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRg9DAAAQBAJ}}
Russell was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in February 2014. She is a member of the Family Justice Council.
In April 2017, the Court of Appeal held that Russell had committed a series of "gross and obvious" irregularities in the way in which she had dealt with alleged contempt of court in a case about the alleged abduction of a child. Russell had imprisoned the father of the child for 18 months, holding that he had been in breach of an order which she had not in fact made, and did not have power to make. In doing so, she had made various serious procedural errors. The Court of Appeal awarded damages for wrongful imprisonment against the Lord Chancellor under the Human Rights Act 1998.{{cite BAILII |litigants = LL v. The Lord Chancellor |court=EWCA |division=Civ |year=2017 |num=237 |parallelcite=[2017] 4 WLR 162 |date=10 April 2017 |courtname=Court of Appeal |juris=England and Wales}}
In May 2017, Russell allowed an appeal from a relocation decision of Her Honour Judge Owens in the Family Court at Oxford. However, in December 2017, the Court of Appeal held that Russell's decision was 'both wrong and unjust because of serious procedural irregularity', because the 'main basis on which the appeal was allowed by Russell J arose from a legal argument that had not been raised in the grounds of appeal, had not been addressed by either party, and was in any event incorrect'.{{cite BAILII |litigants = L v. F |court=EWCA |division=Civ |year=2017 |num=2121 |date=20 December 2017 |courtname=Court of Appeal |juris=England and Wales}}
Russell retired on 2 October 2024.[https://www.judiciary.uk/appointments-and-retirements/high-court-retirement-of-the-honourable-dame-alison-russell-dbe/ High Court: Retirement of The Honourable Dame Alison Russell DBE]
Personal life
Russell lives with her partner Julian Francis in South London.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/i/page-3-profile-alison-russell-qc-judge-9421862.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150509044509/http://www.independent.co.uk/i/page-3-profile-alison-russell-qc-judge-9421862.html |archive-date=2015-05-09 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Page 3 Profile: Alison Russell QC, judge|work=Independent|first=Natasha|last=Clark|date=23 May 2014|accessdate=1 July 2016}}
References
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{{Family Division of England & Wales}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Alison Hunter}}
Category:People educated at Wellington School, Ayr
Category:Alumni of London South Bank University
Category:Members of Gray's Inn
Category:Family Division judges
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Category:20th-century British lawyers
Category:20th-century British women lawyers
Category:21st-century British judges