Vanessa Hall-Smith

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Vanessa Frances Hall-Smith MBE (born April 1951) is an English lawyer, musician and writer. She was the director of the British Institute of Florence from 2004 to 2011.

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Biography

Hall-Smith was born in April 1951 and came from a family of doctors. [1] She was educated at the Roedean School in Roedean near Brighton, East Sussex. After this, she lived in Italy where she attended the University of Perugia, worked as a restaurant photographer in Florence and became fluent in Italian. After graduating, Hall-Smith spent a year teaching English in Rome. [1]

Hall-Smith later studied law at the University of Exeter and conducted postgraduate studies in Germany and France. [1] At Exeter, Hall-Smith played viola and violin and recorded an album with the progressive rock and folk rock band Fuchsia, providing violin and backing vocals. [2]

Hall-Smith passed the English bar exam in 1976, [1] then practised as a barrister for a number of years and was secretary of the International Law Association in the 1980s. [3] She later requalified as a solicitor and was a partner with the London firms The Simkins Partnership and Harrison Curtis, [4] [5] specialising in advertising rights. [6] [7] She spoke publicly on copyright issues; specifically on copyrighted media used in advertising and the associated risks for the advertisers [7] and state regulation of the industry. [8]

Hall-Smith was the director of the British Institute of Florence from 2004 [9] to 2011. [10] In 2008, Hall-Smith was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire "for services promoting UK culture in Italy." [11]

Hall-Smith returned to England in 2011. [1] In 2014, she wrote the foreword for the art history book Agnolo Bronzino: Medici Court Artist in Context by Andrea M. Gáldy. [12] She co-edited Rivista, the Magazine of the British-Italian Society, with Linda Northern from 2014 to 2019. [13] In 2024-2025, she served as Treasurer of the Islington Choral Society in Islington, North London. [14]

Personal life

Hall-Smith married lawyer Alper Riza, a half-Turkish and half-Greek Cypriot in 1981. They had two children and separated in the 1990s. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Shebba, Anne (27 January 2004). "My new home is where the art is". London: Times Online . Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  2. ↑ Durant, Tony. "FUCHSIA, according to Tony Durant". Nightwings.org. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  3. ↑ Hossain, Kamal (7 November 2013). Legal Aspects of the New International Economic Order. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. xii. ISBN   978-1-4725-1020-4.
  4. ↑ "Moving on". Law Society Gazette. 30 October 2000. Archived from the original on 19 February 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  5. ↑ The Legal 500: The Major Law Firms in England, Wales and Scotland. Legalease. 2002. p. 223. ISBN   978-1-903927-13-7.
  6. ↑ Rose, Hilary (25 June 2005). "A school with a view". London: Times Online . Retrieved 20 August 2008.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. 1 2 Chandiramani, Ravi (8 May 2003). "ANALYSIS: Doing battle with copycat ads". Marketing magazine (UK). Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  8. ↑ Hall-Smith, Vanessa (27 September 1996). "OPINION: Legal controls might not be a bad move for advertisers". Brand Republic . Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "Vanessa Hall-Smith, Author at The Florentine". The Florentine. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  10. ↑ Cervelli, Martin (14 November 2008). "Viaggio alla scoperta dei "paradisi" britannici" (in Italian). Il Secolo XIX . Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  11. ↑ "Honours: Diplomatic Service and Overseas List". The Independent . London. 31 December 2008. Archived from the original on 31 December 2008. Retrieved 20 August 2008.
  12. ↑ Gáldy, Andrea M. (26 August 2014). Agnolo Bronzino: Medici Court Artist in Context. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. xv. ISBN   978-1-4438-6635-4.
  13. ↑ "Dear Readers" (PDF). Rivista (401). The British-Italian Society: 2. 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
  14. ↑ "Members". Islington Choral Society. Retrieved 21 April 2025.
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