MI Tapestry

Nichola Reece-Burton
of James Berry &
Associates Legal
Consultants, Dubai, UAE
introduces us to Mary
Prior Q.C.
Mary Prior Q.C.
Mary Prior QC is the daughter of a coal miner and a factory worker. Her family
struggled financially and she had free school meals and uniforms and was brought
up living on a council estate. No one in her family had A-levels and she had very
few books at home. The main aim of her life at 16 was to not get pregnant, simply
because so many of her friends had babies. They were wonderful people, but she
knew she didn’t have that capability. After school she worked two jobs whilst
studying law at a polytechnic, following which she worked as a clerk at a Magistrates’
Court. After six years they paid for her to qualify and she was incredibly fortunate to
gain a sponsored pupillage with the Crown Prosecution Service.
Six years later she took voluntary redundancy and, with a two-year-old, a one-yearold
and a baby, took the opportunity to apply to chambers. She received one offer in
a small set of chambers in Wolverhampton. Thirty years later she is a QC, a Recorder
in the Crown Court, a Tier 1 leading silk in the Legal 500 and, this year, she has the
honour of being awarded Woman of the Year in the Women in Law Awards.