Patricia Scotland

The Right Honourable The Baroness Scotland of Asthal PC KC
Scotland in 2022
6th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations
In office 1 April 2016 – 31 March 2025
Head	Elizabeth II Charles III
Chair	Joseph Muscat (Malta) Theresa May (UK) Boris Johnson (UK) Paul Kagame (Rwanda) Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa (Samoa)
Preceded by	Kamalesh Sharma
Succeeded by	Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey
Attorney General for England and Wales
In office 28 June 2007 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Peter Goldsmith
Succeeded by	Dominic Grieve
Junior ministerial offices Advocate General for Northern Ireland In office 12 April 2010 – 11 May 2010 Prime Minister Gordon Brown Preceded by Office created Succeeded by Dominic Grieve Attorney General for Northern Ireland In office 28 June 2007 – 12 April 2010 Prime Minister Gordon Brown Preceded by The Lord Goldsmith Succeeded by John Larkin Minister of State for Criminal Justice and Offender Management[a] In office 12 June 2003 – 28 June 2007 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by The Lord Falconer of Thoroton Succeeded by The Baroness Browning (2011) Parliamentary Secretary for Lord Chancellor's Department In office 12 June 2001 – 13 June 2003 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by The Lord Bach Succeeded by The Lord Filkin Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs In office 28 July 1999 – 12 June 2001 Prime Minister Tony Blair Preceded by The Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean Succeeded by Ben Bradshaw The Baroness Amos
Further offices held Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales In office 11 May 2010 – 7 October 2011 Leader Harriet Harman (acting) Ed Miliband Preceded by Edward Garnier Succeeded by Emily Thornberry Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 6 November 1997
Personal details
Born	Patricia Janet Scotland (1955-08-19) 19 August 1955 (age 69) Dominica, British Windward Islands
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Anglia Ruskin University University College London[1] Middle Temple
Profession	Barrister

Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, PC, KC (born 19 August 1955), is a Dominican-British barrister and politician who served as Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations from 2016 to 2025. She was the first woman to hold that post.^[2]

After working as a barrister in London, she was appointed as a life peer in 1997 and, as a British Labour Party politician, served in ministerial positions within the UK Government, most notably as Attorney General for England and Wales and as Advocate General for Northern Ireland. She is a dual citizen of the United Kingdom and Dominica, where she was born.^[3]

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