Masters of the Bench

The first in her family to go to university, she gained a First Class Honours degree from Leeds University in 1975. Angela was awarded the Harmsworth Scholarship. Following a pupillage in London she returned to Leeds and became the first woman to be accepted as a tenant at 37, Park Square. Angela practiced from those chambers as a Family specialist until 2000, when she was appointed to the Circuit Bench; the first female Circuit judge appointed to sit in Leeds/Bradford. In 2011, she was appointed Designated Family Judge for North Yorkshire. For eight years until 2013 Angela was a tutor with the Judicial College on both the Family and the Craft of Judging tutor teams. For ten years until 2014 she was the Circuit Judge Representative on the Family Procedure Rule Committee and is a signatory to the Family Procedure Rules 2010. She is married to His Honour Judge Heaton QC. They have four children and two grandchildren.