BAME Person of the Month Winner - Dame Linda Dobbs

Written by: Minh Simmonds

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Each month, your LCG Rep, VP Wellbeing & Diversity, the BAME officer, International student’s officer and the Student Voice team will be helping students celebrate inspirational members of the BAME community.

This month our winning writer is Minh Simmonds who has celebrated Dame Linda Dobbs, read her piece below.

"Dame Linda Dobbs is an important figurehead when it comes to diversity and inclusion of non-white aspiring lawyers trying to crack onto the scene of what is considered to be a white-male dominated career, albeit not so much as in the past. This is why she is an inspiration for me and should be for other ambitious Law students that come from diverse backgrounds.

Dame Linda was the first person of colour, of either gender, to be appointed a High Court Judge in the UK. Recognizing this achievement of hers brings much more significance at the time of writing this piece on International Women’s Day, celebrating how she is a pioneer and pathed a way for the countless BAME people in Law we have today all the way from lawyers to some of the highest seats of power in the land, a milestone accomplishment from 2004 when she was appointed.

An advocate for equality and diversity, she has worked in encouraging and supporting aspirant lawyers and judges from diverse backgrounds, from both positions at the Bar and on the bench as senior liaison judge for diversity. Her tireless work does not, and should not, go unnoticed as she has been nominated as one of Great Britain’s 10 most inspirational and powerful black women and one of the 100 Great Black Britons.

When appointed as the first black High Court Judge, she stated "Whilst this appointment might be seen as casting me into the role of standard-bearer, I am simply a practitioner following a career path. I am confident, nevertheless, that I am the first of many to come.”, - Quite the statement that students should take on, that if you have your mindset on the career you want, absolutely nothing should stand in your way from doing so."

- Minh Simmonds

It was a very tight decision between the judges this month because all the entries were excellent. One of our judges said "I chose this entry because it passes a very powerful message, especially in a white-male dominated career, that no matter where you come from or who you are, you can be who you want to be if you set your mind to it." and that is the heart of this competition.

Do you want to celebrate someone? All you have to do!

To enter this competition, you have to write anywhere from 200-300 words on someone you think is inspirational – on a word doc.
The text itself can be either factual or emotive, but it must say why this BAME person is inspirational to you and others.
Use a high-resolution image if possible!
We will format it for the social media channels but let us know if you have any specific requests - your usernames to be tagged in the posts for example.
Dates will be sent out via email.
Email entries to: studentvoice@su.plymouth.ac.uk
The next submission deadline is Thursday 15th April 2021 so please submit your writing now!