Throughout a pioneering career which saw her appointed the first female President of the Supreme Court, Baroness Hale has always fought for equality in “male institutions”.

But as she made her valedictory speech on Wednesday, the “Beyonce of the legal profession” admitted that it was not just men that women had to struggle to work alongside.

In a ceremony at the Supreme Court she acknowledged that “there are women who find working for women harder than working for men”.

Some of the biggest names in the legal profession gathered to pay tribute to the "enormous impact" that she has had "on women in the law and beyond".

President of the Law Society, Christina Blacklaws - sporting a spider brooch in a nod to the one Lady Hale wore during September’s prorogation case – described her as a "powerful role model” and thanked her “on behalf of all girly-swots in our country”.

But Lady Hale - the first woman appointed to the Law Commission, the first female Law Lord, the first female Supreme Court justice and the first woman president of the Supreme Court - pointed out that “not everyone thinks I’m such a good thing”.