{"id":3131,"date":"2009-05-21T11:43:06","date_gmt":"2009-05-21T15:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=3131"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:38:34","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:38:34","slug":"use-law-career-to-serve-others-says-human-rights-attorney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2009\/05\/use-law-career-to-serve-others-says-human-rights-attorney\/","title":{"rendered":"Use Law Career to Serve Others, Says Human Rights Attorney"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>University<\/a>
University of Connecticut School of Law 2009 Day Pitney Visiting Scholar Lecture, Cherie Blair. Photo by Spencer A. Sloan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cherie Blair is the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but she is also an accomplished human rights attorney and advocate for women.<\/p>\n

During a talk at the UConn School of Law on May 1, Blair discussed human rights, women\u2019s issues, and the importance of attorneys using their careers to offer some benefit to society.<\/p>\n

Born to a single mother in a modest home in Liverpool \u2013 \u201cmore Pittsburgh than Connecticut,\u201d she said \u2013 Blair went on to graduate first in her class from the London School of Economics. She was later named Queen\u2019s Counsel, a title of distinction in the British legal world.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween you and me,\u201d she said of her university education, \u201cI got much better marks than my husband.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair said she was pleased to see that, in addition to reams of legal texts, the Reading Room in William F. Starr Hall was decorated with pictures of female jurists \u2013 many of whom earned their law degrees from UConn.<\/p>\n

When she was in college in the 1970s, she said, \u201cthings were not quite as good for women in the law in the UK or the US. It was the culture at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recalled a text book telling students that the law was a demanding task for a man \u2013 and even more difficult for a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese days there would be a lawsuit,\u201d she said, noting that during the past three decades, attitudes have changed, in part because of the work of lawyers.<\/p>\n

Although the profession may get its share of scorn from time to time, in the current economic climate, she joked, \u201cwe should actually just take comfort in the fact we\u2019re not bankers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t underestimate the importance of the law as an agent of change in our societies,\u201d Blair said, urging members of the audience to put their law degrees to use in serving others.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will get more out of the law if you make it a worthwhile career in every sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

One noble pursuit would to be to help improve access to justice, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is those who are most in need of legal advice who are least able to afford it. Access to justice is a fundamental human right.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to human rights, she said, it is vital that societies raise their eyes beyond their national borders.<\/p>\n

Blair recalled that she tried to persuade then-President George W. Bush not to abandon American commitment to an international agreement regarding human rights while she still lived at 10 Downing Street.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took it in good humor,\u201d she recalled, but in the end, didn\u2019t heed her advice.<\/p>\n

Blair fielded several questions pertaining to human rights issues, including Islamic religious courts in Britain, human trafficking, honor killings, and wearing traditional religious garb in schools.<\/p>\n

On the criminal indictment of Sudan\u2019s president, she said the case presents practical difficulties, noting that the actions of the International Criminal Court sometimes hinder the regional settlement of conflict.<\/p>\n

Blair said accusations of human rights abuses should be dealt with first and foremost by the societies themselves, adding, \u201cthe International Criminal Court is a court of last resort if that\u2019s not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cherie Blair is the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, but she is also an accomplished human rights attorney and advocate for women. During a talk at the UConn School of Law on May 1, Blair discussed human rights, women\u2019s issues, and the importance of attorneys using their careers to offer some benefit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[39],"class_list":["post-3131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 03:58:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3131"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3131\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3483,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3131\/revisions\/3483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3131"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=3131"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=3131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}