Julie Maxton

Julie is a barrister, legal scholar and academic administrator. Born in Scotland, she gained a BA in law from University College, London and after training to be a barrister, she was called to the bar at Middle Temple in 1978. It was at University of Canterbury, that she lectured at the School of Law and completed a Master of Law degree. On marrying, Julie moved to New Zealand and became senior lecturer at Auckland University and was promoted to associate professor. She completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree at University of Auckland in 1991. In 1993, she was appointed as a Professor of Law and in 2002, she became Dean of the Faculty of Law, a position she held for five years. On returning to the UK, Julie became the first woman to become Registrar of the University of Oxford and a Fellow of University College, Oxford. From 2011, she has been executive director of the Royal Society, a learned society and the UK’s national academy of sciences. In 2014, Julie was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by her alma mater, the University of Auckland. She was honoured with a Commander of the Order of the British Empire award (CBE) in 2017 for services to science, law and education.