Nemone Lethbridge: an inspirational story of a woman in law

Nemone Lethbridge was born in 1932. She read law at Somerville College Oxford and was called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn in 1956. After mixed pupillages, she focused on crime and became the only female tenant at 3 Harcourt Buildings. Undaunted by the clerks’ refusal to give her work, she found her own and her considerable reputation was made when she became counsel of choice to the Krays. After only a few years of practice, her tenancy was summarily terminated when news of her marriage to Jimmy O’Connor, a convicted murderer, became public. During the 18 years it took her to return to the Bar, she wrote successful television plays. She practised again from 1981 to 2007. Currently, she works every Saturday in the Stoke Newington Law Centre she founded 20 years ago where most of her caseload is immigration. She is a living legend in law.
Katie Gollop QC, who interviewed Nemone, was called to the Bar in 1993 and took silk in 2016. She is a member of Serjeants’ Inn Chambers and specialises in healthcare law. This year, she represented Great Ormond Street Hospital during the Charlie Gard hearings.