The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. It is located in the wider Temple area of London, near the Royal Courts of Justice, and within the City of London. As a liberty, it functions largely as an independent local government authority.
Liberty, formerly, and still formally, called the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL), is an advocacy group and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, which challenges unjust laws, protects civil liberties and promotes human rights. It does this through the courts, in Parliament and in the wider community. Liberty also aims to engender a "rights culture" within British society. The NCCL was founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith, motivated by their humanist convictions.
Helena Florence Normanton, QC was the first female barrister in the United Kingdom. In November 1922, she was the second woman to be called to the Bar of England and Wales, following the example set by Ivy Williams in May 1922. When she married, she kept her surname and in 1924, she was the first British married woman to have a passport in the name she was born with. In October 2021, Normanton was honoured by the installation of an English Heritage Blue plaque at her London home in Mecklenburgh Square.
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson is an Australian-British barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. Robertson is a founder and joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. He serves as a Master of the Bench at the Middle Temple, a recorder, and visiting professor at Queen Mary University of London.
Ivy Williams was the first woman to be called to the English bar, in May 1922. She never practised, but she was the first woman to teach law at a British university.
Mecklenburgh Square is a Grade II listed square in Bloomsbury, London. The square and its garden were part of the Foundling Estate, a residential development of 1792–1825 on fields surrounding and owned by the Foundling Hospital. The square was named in honour of King George III's queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It was begun in 1804, but was not completed until 1825.
SharmishtaChakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti, is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil liberties and human rights, from 2003 to 2016. From 2016 to 2020, she served as Shadow Attorney General for England and Wales.
Shahram Taghavi is a barrister practising in the United Kingdom. He is a specialist in Judicial Review, Human Rights, Immigration and EU law. He was called to the England & Wales bar in 1994. He is a partner at Article 1, a law firm specialising in immigration, EU freedoms of movement and human rights law. He practised as an independent barrister at Doughty Street Chambers specialising in human rights, immigration and public law. He was joint head of the Human Rights and Public law departments and head of the Immigration department at Simons Muirhead & Burton solicitors. He was a Senior Barrister at Bates Wells & Braithwaite LLP as a member of their Public & Regulatory, Human Rights and Immigration departments, Deputy Head of Human Rights and Immigration at Lewis Silkin LLP, Head of Human Rights and Immigration at Charles Russell LLP and National Head of Immigration and Human Rights at Grant Thornton LLP.
No5 Barristers' Chambers is one of the largest sets of barristers' chambers in the United Kingdom, located in Birmingham, with offices in London, Bristol and Leicester.
Red Lion Chambers is a UK set of barristers' chambers, specialising in criminal law, formerly known as 18 Red Lion Court.
Edward Hamilton Fitzgerald is a British barrister who specialises in criminal law, public law, and international human rights law. His work against the death penalty has led him to represent criminals such as: Myra Hindley, Mary Bell, Maxine Carr, various IRA prisoners, and Abu Hamza. Fitzgerald is currently the joint head of Doughty Street Chambers.
39 Essex Chambers is a long established barristers' chambers based in London with over 150 barristers, including 58 King's Counsel. The chambers offers expertise in commercial, common, construction, costs, environmental and planning, public and regulatory and disciplinary law.
Jennifer Robinson is an Australian human rights lawyer and barrister with Doughty Street Chambers in London.
Amal Clooney is a British international human rights lawyer. Notable clients of hers include former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Iraqi human rights activist Nadia Murad, Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa, Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, and Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy. She has held various appointments with the Government of the United Kingdom and the United Nations, and is also an adjunct law professor at Columbia Law School. In 2016, she and her husband, the American actor George Clooney, co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
Martha Spurrier is a British barrister and human rights campaigner. She was the director of the advocacy group Liberty from 2016 to 2024.
Kirsty Brimelow is a barrister of England and Wales and KC practising from Doughty Street Chambers. She practises in the national and international courts and tribunals in international human rights, criminal law and public law. She is a Bencher of Gray's Inn and elected member of its management committee. She was International Pro Bono Barrister of the Year in 2018 and was Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee (2012–2018). She obtained an LLB Hons from Birmingham University and then studied at the Inns of Court School of Law to be called to the Bar in 1991. She was a pupil at Littleton Chambers in 1993. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2011. In 2021 she was appointed trustee of WWF UK. In 2021, she was elected Vice-Chair of the Criminal Bar Association of England and Wales. She was Chair of the Criminal Bar Association from 1 September 2022- 1 September 2023.
Adam Wagner is a Doughty Street Chambers barrister, a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission's panel of counsel.
Jonathan Paul Cooper was a British barrister and human rights activist, described by The Guardian journalist Owen Boycott as "at the forefront of efforts to decriminalise homosexuality around the world". He practised at Doughty Street Chambers and edited the European Human Rights Law Review. In 2011, he co-founded the Human Dignity Trust, a UK-based charity that focuses on strategic litigation against the criminalization of homosexuality worldwide, and served as its director until 2016.
Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC is an Irish-born barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, specialising in human rights and civil liberties.
Heather Rogers KC was an English barrister known for her specialisation in media law. She died from a pulmonary embolism at age 64.
