Baroness Helena Kennedy has been Chair of the British Council, the United Kingdom's international organisation for educational and cultural relations, since 1998. Her other high-profile public appointments include Chair of the Human Genetics Commission. Appointed Queen's Counsel in 1991 and made a Labour Life Peer in 1997, Lady Kennedy practises predominantly in the criminal law and as acted in many leading cases including the Brighton Bombing Trial and the Guildford Four Appeal.

A regular broadcaster and journalist, she presented Channel 4's After Dark series now on BBC 4. Her award-winning book on women in the criminal justice system, Eve was Framed, was published in 1992.