Veronica Lowe

Published 19th September 2018
Veronica Lowe, M.A.(Oxon), is a Solicitor and President St Hugh’s College Alumni Association, humorously credited with pioneering the six page CV for her continued success in a variety of fields within the legal profession.

Lowe read Modern History at St Hugh’s College, Oxford University, and was the first woman to take Military History as a Special Subject.

She was the joint first female articled clerk in a 175 year-old solicitors’ firm and admitted as a solicitor in January 1979 when only 7.5% of solicitors were women.

Lowe became the first female Area Director for Legal Aid, responsible for the Legal Aid Scheme in the West Midlands, East Midlands and East Anglia, and was a member of the Management Board.

Another achievement of Lowe’s was becoming Director of the Solicitors’ Complaints Bureau, then the largest professional complaints-handling body in the world, and second female member of the Law Society’s Management Board.

She then became the first person from outside the Civil Service to be appointed at Permanent Under-Secretary level as the Chief Executive of a Next Steps Government Agency, and member of the Inland Revenue Executive Board, as well as one of the first women to be Head of Legal Affairs for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for a global pharmaceutical company.

Veronica became Board Member of the European Generic Medicines Association in Brussels, and of its Legal Affairs Committee, working with the European Commission on drafting pharmaceutical and patents legislation.

With 17 years as a Tribunal Judge, Lowe presided over cases in areas such as immigration, asylum, human rights, and social entitlement.

Lowe is currently President of St Hugh’s College Alumni Association.
Newsletter Sign Up
Get the latest updates on the First 100 Years Project and join our journey.