Keir Starmer. Q.C.

Keir Starmer Q.C. has a mixed criminal and civil practice. He specializes in Human Rights Law and has conducted cases at the highest level and all over the world in this field. He has appeared in 12 cases before the House of Lords, 16 cases before the Privy Council and he has also appeared in many cases before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica and the African Commission on Human and People Rights in Pretoria.

In 2000, Keir Starmer won the Justice/Liberty human rights lawyer of the year award. In 2005, he won the Bar Council’s Sydney Elland Goldsmith award for his outstanding contribution to pro bono work in challenging the death penalty throughout the Caribbean, Uganda, Kenya and Malawi. Guy Mansfield Q.C., then Chairman of the Bar Council, commented: “Keir Starmer QC has for many years made a major contribution to changing the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth on a fundamental matter – life and death”. In 2006, Keir Starmer was identified by the Lawyer magazine as one of the Hot 100 in the legal profession with the comment that “with neither the quality nor the level of work abating, Starmer’s star is continuing to rise.

Keir Starmer has written several legal textbooks on Human Rights, including European Human Rights Law and the Human Rights Manual for Africa. He is the author of the human rights section in Blackstone’s Criminal Practice. He is a research fellow at Essex University and lectures periodically at the London School of Economics (LSE), London University.

In 2003 Keir Starmer was appointed as human rights advisor to the Policing Board in Northern Ireland. In that capacity he works with the Policing Board to ensure that the Police Service of Northern Ireland fully complies with its obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998. Along with his co-advisor, he has published four reports in Northern Ireland: two annual Human Rights Reports and two Special Reports on particular policing operations. Working closely with senior officers in the police service, he has secured their commitment to respond positively to all the recommendations made in those reports.

Edward Fitzgerald. Q.C.

He argued the appeals of Michael Hickey (in the Bridgewater 3 case); the posthumous appeal of Derek Bentley; the appeal of Steven Downing; and numerous battered wife cases, as well as the cases of R v Offen (which modified the test for automatic life sentences), R v Chapman (on discretionary life sentences) and R v Mitchell (on hospital orders). He is currently involved in the appeal to the Privy Council on behalf of William Labrador, who was controversially convicted of the killing of a US artist in the British Virgin Islands, and in the posthumous case of Timothy Evans. Edward Fitzgerald has been involved in a number of cases involving freedom of speech and the right to privacy. He originally represented David Shayler at the Old Bailey and then in the Court of Appeal. He was counsel for John Venables in the case of Venables v News Group, Which resulted in a lifelong injunction against the media from publishing the new identities and whereabouts of the boys convicted of killing James Bulger. He also represents Mary Bell and Maxine Carr in their injunction proceedings designed to protect their current identity and whereabouts from publications.

He has particular expertise in all areas of public law involving the criminal process, especially extradition cases, such as the Rajneeshi case (ex parte Hagan & Croft), the successful challenge of Graham Tomlins v US, Kashamu Nos 1 and 2, Al Fawwaz v US, Lodhi v United Arab Emirates, and the case of US v Raissi (the Algerian pilot falsely accused of involvement in the September 11th hijackings). Recently, Edward Fitzgerald represented Babar Ahmed against a request for extradition by the United States for alleged terrorist activities (US v Babar Ahmed, unreported). This case raised significant questions about US extradition policies; the defence was predominantly based on the possibility of Mr. Ahmed facing the Military commission and being sentenced to the death penalty or incarceration in Guantanamo Bay if extradited to the US. Subsequently, Edward Fitzgerald successfully represented Natalia Chernysheva (Russia v Maruev and Chernysheva, unreported), and ex-YUKOS employee, in her fight against an attempted extradition to Russia. It was held that if she returned she would not receive a fair trial in Russia due to her political opinions.

His experience in the public law field extends widely to judicial review of disciplinary hearing, local authorities and other regulatory bodies, and he was counsel for Greenpeace in the Brent Spar judicial review. Edward Fitzgerald has taken a number of cases to the European Court of Human Rights against the UK for prisoners and mental health patients.