Afua Hirsch – A star is born

Media star Afua Hirsch, pictured, was applauded by Guardian editor, Alan Rusbridger at the launch of new website - Guardian Law.

Rusbridger paid respects to Hirsch’s talent saying that she came to the Guardian as an inexperienced journalist having qualified at the Bar but has beaten an enviable path to becoming a star Guardian writer and now head of the Guardian Law website.

A spirited address from main speaker Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP caught him admitting that his wife, an avid reader of the Guardian, ensures he gets his daily Guardian headlines via tweets and texts. Rusbridger praised Hirsh, who has risen to become one of the country’s leading writers, as the inspiration behind Guardian Law.

Citing sentiments from President Obama’s ‘Dreams From My Father’ as a catalyst to her studying law and becoming a law writer, Hirsch recalled Obama’s  inspirational words:

“The study of law can be disappointing at times, a matter of applying narrow rules and arcane procedure to an uncooperative reality; a sort of glorified accounting that serves to regulate the affairs of those who have power – and that all too often seeks to explain, to those who do not, the ultimate wisdom and justness of their condition.

“But that’s not all the law is. The law is also memory; the law also records a long-running conversation, a national arguing with its conscience."

With Guardian Law under her domain Hirsch threw out the old convoluted legal reporting style and set about communicating in a way that spoke to the unqualified.

Referring to Obama words, Hirsch said of the new site:

“The new Guardian law site is providing a space for that conversation in a way that has never been done in this country before.

Since we launched our site last May, it has already become by far the biggest law site in the UK. And not only that but we are creating a world where social justice, human rights, the media, the City and commercial law are all there to be reported, analysed, scrutinised and discussed. “When I was practising as a lawyer I dreamed of a place like this. And now it’s here, it’s an absolute privilege to be part of it”.

Congratulating Hirsch on her achievements and the success of the site OBV Director Simon Woolley says:

“What Afua Hirsch has achieved in such a short space of time frankly demonstrates her sheer brilliance. We will continue to support her in this very important role in the full knowledge that she is always on the right side of social and racial justice.

“The Guardian has a reputation for fairness, and giving Afua charge of this section sends a message, not just as an acknowledgement of her talent, but it speaks volumes about the Guardian’s integrity.”

Promoting the law section, the Guardian states:

"We have launched this site because law matters. It matters for people who want to challenge the power of the state to do anything, from closing a care home to taking the country to war. It matters to people who claim bullying or discrimination at work, and for the employers who dispute it".