Alumna Karina McTeague to receive honorary degree at winter graduation ceremony

Edinburgh Law School alumna Karina McTeague, will join this year’s graduands to receive an honorary Doctor of Laws at the University’s graduation ceremony on 23 November.

Karina graduated from Edinburgh Law School with an LLB in the 1980s and has had a distinguished career in law and in the financial sector, both within Scotland and internationally. Having undertaken a number of notable industry roles across the UK (with the Bank of Scotland, Halifax, HBOS plc, Lloyds TSB Scotland plc and Lloyds Banking Group) Karina became the Chief Risk Officer, North America, with Lloyds Banking Group in January 2011. Following a secondment as Strategy Director at the British Bankers Association, Karina joined the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the Director of Retail Banking Supervision in 2013. In 2018 she became the FCA’s Director of General Insurance and Conduct Specialists. As recently announced, Karina will shortly take up a new role with Visa Europe to be their CRO. 

Karina was nominated for an honorary degree for her commitment to gender equality within the law. She has broken glass ceilings with her success in the legal and financial sector and is a keen advocate for gender equality in the workplace, galvanising colleagues in the industry to take practical steps towards addressing the decline of gender parity from graduate to the highest levels of the legal profession. This drive to tackle the challenges of achieving gender equality within the law, lead to her becoming a founding member of the Edinburgh Foundation for Women in Law, of which she is still a strong supporter and advisor.

As part of the graduation celebrations, she will be giving a lecture for the Foundation titled, ‘Gender Discrimination: Are Scottish lawyers different?’ on 21 November.

You can book a place at Karina’s lecture here.

Karina joins a line of other distinguished honorary graduates in Law, including; Prof Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative ; Eleanor Veronica Elizabeth Sharpston, QC, Advocate General at the European Court of Justice; His Excellency President Michael D Higgins, former President of Ireland; Justice Julia Sebutinde, Judge International Court of Justice.