Her Honour Judge Whitehouse KC talks about leaving a successful career in the City in order to become a barrister and her work as Silk at the Criminal Bar. She also reflects on becoming Senior Treasury Counsel and a Judge.

Her Honour Judge Whitehouse KC, was born in Kampala, Uganda in 1961, before the family relocated to Yorkshire. Sarah studied English Literature and Language at St Andrews University where she became interested in politics and libertarianism. After graduating she had a successful career as an Investment Banker in the City as well as standing as a Conservative candidate in the 1992 General Election.  In this podcast Sarah discusses her decision to change career direction, her call to the Bar in 1993 and applying for pupillage in her 30’s. She talks about her career at the criminal Bar, where she prosecuted and defended in a wide variety of cases, many of which were high profile, the most recent being the second Hillsborough trial. Other cases included murder, terrorism, corruption, sexual offences, fraud and cybercrime.  Sarah was appointed Junior Treasury Counsel in 2006 and Queen’s Counsel and Senior Treasury Counsel in 2014. She was elected a Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn in the same year.  In 2018 she was appointed as deputy First Senior Treasury Counsel as well as being appointed as a Recorder. In 2021 she was appointed as a Circuit Judge and presided as a Judge in the Crown Court at Woolwich.  Her most recent appointment is as a Senior Circuit Judge at the Central Criminal Court at The Old Bailey, in April 2023.  Sarah was Chair of the Post-Call Education Committee at Lincoln’s Inn 2015 – 2022. She is a Grade A advocacy tutor and tutors on the annual international advocacy course at Keble College, Oxford as well as delivering advocacy and judicial training all over the world. She is an ordained Priest in the Church of England and is currently licensed as an Associate Priest at Holy Trinity and St Augustine’s in South West London.

Her Honour Judge Whitehouse KC

The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to Call their members to the Bar of England and Wales. A thriving association of students, barrister and judges, we proudly provide support, education and camaraderie to members at every stage of their careers.

As part of the Lincoln’s Inn 600th anniversary year celebrations during 2022, the Inn set out to a record the thoughts and recollections of five of its members, through an oral history project, carried out by oral historian Sarah Gudgin. Each interview reveals aspects of the lives and careers of the interviewees and explores a sense of the continuity of both the legal profession and the role of the Inn in people’s lives.

The long term aim of the project is to create an on-going oral history archive of the Inn, adding more recordings over time, covering a wide range of Inn experiences, including those of students, pupils, employees, tenants, clerks, benchers, KCs and Judges.

We are most grateful for the generous time and contributions of all of our interviewees who took part in the project, which we hope you will enjoy listening to.

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