Dame Janet Hilary Smith, DBE, PC (born 29 November 1940),[1] styled The Rt Hon.
In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.
[5] She practised as a barrister for twenty years in Manchester, specialising in personal injury and clinical negligence cases.
[7] After retiring from the Court of Appeal, in June 2011 Smith was appointed to succeed Lord Brennan QC as the independent assessor for miscarriages of justice compensation for England and Wales.
On 11 October 2012, she was appointed by the BBC to lead an inquiry into the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal.