Formidable woman in the wig who will preside over war of the Wags
IN HER long legal career she has been engaged in such weighty cases as Guantanamo Bay prisoners, Saudi arms deals – and claims Priti Patel bullied civil servants.
But from tomorrow, Mrs Justice Steyn will find herself in the full glare of the media spotlight for an altogether different reason, as she presides over the Wagatha Christie libel trial.
Described as ‘formidable and exceptionally intelligent’, she is the daughter of former Law Lord, Lord Steyn. And those who have attended preliminary hearings have seen hints of frustration in Dame Karen, possibly mirroring a wider disbelief that Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy are spending millions over their dispute.
Dame Karen was born in South Africa but grew up in Britain where she attended Tonbridge Grammar School in Kent and Liverpool University. Now 51, she was appointed a High Court judge in 2019, becoming a dame in the same year. She was the only one of that year’s High Court intake not to have attended Oxbridge.
She previously said: ‘Before I started my career I certainly had a perception of barristers as all fitting a particular mould, one that I knew I did not fit, and it took a little while for me to appreciate that there is no mould.’