Former Law Society president and partner at City firm CMS Cameron McKenna Fiona Woolf has been selected to be the first chancellor of the University of Law. She will take up the office in November 2014, at the end of her year as Lord Mayor of the City of London.

Woolf is an alumnus of the institution, formerly the College of Law, and received an honorary doctorate at its first graduation ceremony in 2007. 

The appointment follows a nomination process in which students, staff, alumni and members of the legal profession and legal education community were invited to suggest names of suitable people. 

As chancellor her duties will include presiding at the university’s degree ceremonies, sitting on its honorary degrees committee and representing the university at external events.

Woolf said she is ‘delighted and honoured’ to serve as the institution’s first chancellor. ‘I am looking forward to engaging with the students and assisting the university in its role of supporting the success of our law firms in the domestic and global market for legal service provision and responding to the new challenges of creating more flexible routes to qualification.’

University president Professor Nigel Savage said: ‘Fiona Woolf is a highly distinguished figure in legal practice and will be a great inspiration to students, especially as more than 60% of our student body are female. She is one of the most successful solicitors of my generation.'