We are sorry to record the death of Dame Sonia Proudman, a Judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court from 2008 to 2017 and a former member of Radcliffe Chambers.

Sonia Proudman went from St Paul’s Girls’ School to read Law at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, graduating with first class honours.  She won the Eldon Law Scholarship, which Oxford University awards annually to its foremost student intending to practise at the bar.

She practised from 1974 at 11 New Square, taking silk in 1994.  She was one of the founding members of Radcliffe Chambers, which was formed in 2006 on the merger of 11 New Square and 11 Old Square, and practised here until she became a Judge two years later.

As a practitioner, Sonia Proudman was in the first rank of specialists in trust and private client law, and their associated field of taxation.  Her advice and advocacy were conspicuous for the clarity, economy and elegance with which they were expressed, for her mastery of the subject-matter, and for her acute tactical judgment.

Sonia Proudman was only the second woman to become a Judge of the Chancery Division, and throughout her career she was a role model and mentor to countless other women who have gone on to achieve similar professional distinction.

She is survived by her husband Crispian and her daughter Grace, to whom the members and staff of chambers extend their condolences.