Below is the recording and transcript of the public lecture by Lady Brenda Hale, the Baroness Hale of Richmond, DBE, former President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.

Organised by the Sri Lanka Judges’ Institute and the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law, the lecture was held on 27 August 2025, at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Disclaimer: All views and opinions expressed are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law or of the Sri Lanka Judges’ Institute.

Lady Hale discussed the importance of securing the independence of the judiciary, drawing on her experience in the UK. She addressed conventions around institutional independence of the judiciary, the need to pay judges adequately and to provide sufficient resources for the judicial system, and the importance of diversity in the judiciary.