A Ghanaian-born barrister, Barbara Mills, KC (King's Counsel), is to become the first black Vice Chair of the 129-year-old General Council of the Bar Council, commonly known as the Bar Council, in the UK.
She will take up her position on January 1, 2024 and will also become the first specialist family practitioner in 35 years in that role, the Bar Council has announced.
Ms Mills was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1990 and became a Queen's (now King's) Counsel in 2020.
She is an arbitrator and a mediator, a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers, and co-editor of the International Family Law Journal.
She specialises in difficult and complex cases involving children often with an international element.
When Ms Mills joined Circle Square, a community of inspiring people who have achieved great or good things, a couple of years ago, she spoke about her journey from Ghana to the UK.
'The first part of my childhood which was spent in Ghana, embedded in me a keen sense of family and belonging.
'Our move to England was sudden and rushed and came in the aftermath of a coup, which left my mother with little choice but to move with her children to a place of safety.
'We arrived in England feeling welcomed but very much as guests and started a new life with only what we could carry - five people with five suitcases.'
Ms Mills continued: 'My mother was an incredibly strong character - she had to be.
'Her strict discipline and rule-driven parenting was at times rigid and no doubt rooted in fear - raising her children on her own in a foreign country took courage and resilience.
'She prized education above all else and ensured we had access to the best education with the help of assisted places in private schools.'
Ms Mills said she had always wanted to be a barrister.
She is joint head of chambers at 4PB - one of the leading family law sets in England and Wales, sits as a Deputy High Court Judge and has been a Recorder on the South Eastern Circuit for over 10 years.
Source: Ghana News Agency