{{Short description|British barrister (born 1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Baroness Levitt | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KC}} | image = Official portrait of Baroness Levitt crop 2, 2025 2.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 2025 | office = [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice]] | term_start = 6 September 2025 | prime_minister = [[Keir Starmer]] | predecessor = [[Frederick Ponsonby, 4th Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede|The Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede]] | office1 = [[Member of the House of Lords]] | status1 = [[Lord Temporal]] | term_label1 = [[Life peer]]age | term_start1 = 22 January 2025 | term_end1 = | birth_name = Alison Frances Josephine Levitt | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1963|05|27|df=y}} | birth_place = [[London]], England | death_date = | death_place = | party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Matthew Miller|1993}} * {{marriage|[[Alex Carlile]]|2007}} }} | alma_mater = [[University of St Andrews]] (MA) | children = 2 daughters, one stepson, 2 stepdaughters }}
'''Alison Frances Josephine Levitt, Baroness Levitt, Baroness Carlile of Berriew''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|KC}} (born 27 May 1963), is a British barrister. She was the principal legal advisor to the [[Director of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales)|director of public prosecutions]] from 2009 to 2014, working under [[Keir Starmer]], and served as a [[Circuit judge (England and Wales)|circuit judge]] from 2021 to 2024. She was appointed to the [[House of Lords]] as a [[life peer]] in 2025, and has served as [[Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice]] since September 2025.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-06 |title=Ministerial appointments: September 2025 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ministerial-appointments-5-september-2025 |access-date=2025-09-07 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Alison Levitt was born on 27 May 1963 in London.<ref name="WW">{{Who's Who |title=Levitt, Alison Frances Josephine, (Lady Carlile of Berriew) |year=2024 |id=U247091 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U247091}}</ref> Her father, David Levitt, was an architect and co-founder of the architectural practice [[Levitt Bernstein]],<ref>{{London Gazette |date=13 June 1987 |issue=50948 |page=10 |supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=David Levitt |url=https://www.routledge.com/authors/i18475-david-levitt |publisher=Routledge |language=en |access-date=3 February 2025}}</ref> and her mother, Christian Bevington, was a [[Circuit judge (England and Wales)|circuit judge]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fennell |first=Edward |date=27 August 2015 |title=Born again lawyers find a new path |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/born-again-lawyers-find-a-new-path-qvd0mw0sgg2 |work=The Times |language=en |access-date=3 February 2025}}</ref> Levitt was privately educated at the [[City of London School for Girls]] and later studied at the [[University of St Andrews]], where she gained a [[Master of Arts (Scotland)|Scottish Master of Arts]] (MA) degree in 1986.<ref name="WW" />
==Legal career== Levitt was called to the bar in 1988 by the [[Inner Temple]]. Her private practice as a [[barrister]] in London focused on murder, rape, fraud, and other areas of serious crime.<ref name="PeerageCitation">{{Cite web |title=Political Peerages December 2024 |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/676572c44e2d5e9c0bde9c96/Political_Peerages_December_2024_-_Citations_.pdf |website=GOV.UK |language=en |access-date=3 February 2025}}</ref> She chaired the [[Bar Council]]'s Young Barristers' Committee in 1995 and was the secretary of the [[Criminal Bar Association]] in 2006 and 2007.<ref name="WW" /> Levitt was appointed a [[Recorder (judge)|recorder]] in 2006<ref>{{London Gazette |date=6 December 2006 |issue=58173 |page=16849}}</ref> and [[Queen's Counsel]] (QC) in 2008,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=3 April 2008 |issue=58657 |page=5084}}</ref> and became a bencher of the Inner Temple in 2010.<ref name="PeerageCitation" />
In 2009, Levitt was appointed as the principal legal advisor to the [[Director of Public Prosecutions (England and Wales)|director of public prosecutions]], then [[Keir Starmer]]. She conducted the [[Crown Prosecution Service]]'s review of its handling of allegations made in the [[Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal]].<ref name="PeerageCitation" /> After leaving the post in 2014, Levitt became a partner at the law firm [[Mishcon de Reya]], establishing and heading its group on [[white-collar crime]]. She returned to the bar in 2018 and was appointed as a [[Circuit judge (England and Wales)|circuit judge]] in 2021,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=24 January 2022 |issue=63597 |page=1170}}</ref> resigning upon her appointment as a [[life peer]] in 2024.<ref name="PeerageCitation" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 January 2025 |title=Circuit Judge Resignation: Levitt KC |url=https://www.judiciary.uk/appointments-and-retirements/circuit-judge-resignation-levitt-kc/ |publisher=Courts and Tribunals Judiciary |language=en |access-date=3 February 2025}}</ref>
==House of Lords== In late 2024, Levitt was nominated for a life peerage by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.<ref>{{Cite press release |date=20 December 2024 |title=Political Peerages December 2024 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/political-peerages-december-2024 |website=[[GOV.UK]] |publisher=[[Prime Minister's Office (United Kingdom)|Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street]] |access-date=20 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pollock |first=Laura |date=20 December 2024 |title=See the 38 new lifetime peers announced by the UK Government |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/24808667.see-new-lifetime-peers-announced-uk-government/ |work=[[The National (Scotland)|The National]] |access-date=20 December 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20241220145456/https://www.thenational.scot/news/24808667.see-new-lifetime-peers-announced-uk-government/ |archive-date=20 December 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> She was created ''Baroness Levitt, of Beachamwell Warren in the County of Norfolk'', on 22 January 2025,<ref>{{London Gazette |date=28 January 2025 |issue=64642 |page=1422}}</ref> and was [[Introduction (House of Lords)|introduced to the House of Lords]] on 30 January.<ref>{{Cite Hansard |title=Introduction: Baroness Levitt |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2025-01-30/debates/101F7495-B4D1-4585-8C15-AA91B6C5B37D/IntroductionBaronessLevitt |date=30 January 2025 |jurisdiction=Parliament of the United Kingdom |house=House of Lords |volume=843 |column=363}}</ref>
==Personal life== In 1993, Levitt married Matthew Miller, with whom she has two daughters. After their divorce, Levitt married [[Alex Carlile]] in 2007.<ref name="WW" /> Carlile, a barrister and former judge, was a [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] and [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] member of Parliament from 1983 to 1997, and was himself appointed to the [[House of Lords]] as Lord Carlile of Berriew in 1999.<ref>{{Who's Who |title=Carlile of Berriew |year=2024 |id=U10171 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U10171}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{UK Peer links | parliament = 5381 | publicwhip = Baroness_Levitt | theywork = 26661 }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levitt, Alison Levitt, Baroness}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:1963 births]] [[Category:20th-century English lawyers]] [[Category:20th-century English women lawyers]] [[Category:21st-century British politicians]] [[Category:21st-century British women judges]] [[Category:21st-century British women politicians]] [[Category:21st-century English judges]] [[Category:21st-century King's Counsel]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of St Andrews]] [[Category:English King's Counsel]] [[Category:Circuit judges (England and Wales)]] [[Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers]] [[Category:Lawyers from London]] [[Category:Life peeresses created by Charles III]] [[Category:Life peers created by Charles III]] [[Category:Members of the Inner Temple]] [[Category:People educated at the City of London School for Girls]] [[Category:Politicians from London]] [[Category:Spouses of life peers]] [[Category:British baronesses by marriage]]