Staff in the Department of Law

Kirsty Brimelow QC is the head of Doughty Street Chambers’ International Human Rights Team, and the first Chairwoman of the UK Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC). Kirsty is bringing to Goldsmiths leading expertise in legal practice, fact finding, mediation and diplomacy, case management, interviewing vulnerable witnesses, and an in depth experience in training lawyers, Judges, magistrates, the police and NGO workers.

She is instructed in the most complex and prominent cases nationally and internationally, in criminal law, public law and international human rights, and has led on international investigations relating to the Yazidis and the prosecution of ISIS, mass trials and sentencing in Egypt, children rights in Nigeria, mediation in Colombia, and the rule of law in Mexico and Turkey among other projects. The Times have described her as ‘absolutely astonishing’, ‘very charming’ and a ‘superstar’.

Kirsty's profile on doughtystreet.co.uk

He is adding to Goldsmiths’ LLB programme outstanding expertise in family law and arbitration in family law disputes, a longstanding commitment to access to the Bar for students from under-represented backgrounds and a unique insight of skills central to the legal profession, gained at the chairmanship of a leading Inns of Court.

In 2016, he was the Treasurer (Chairman) of the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and has held there senior positions for over twenty years. During his career, he sat regularly as a judge of the High Court in Family matters and has been heavily involved in professional and academic matters, including acting as Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Family Law Arbitrators, the Judicial Studies Board Family Law Magisterial Committee and the Advisory Board of City Law School.

Former Attorney General for England and Wales, Dominic Grieve QC has worked at the intersection between the law and politics, receiving acclaim for his contributions to international human rights. He was elected as MP in 1997, entering Parliament from a career as a barrister. He held high office for over twenty years, including as shadow Attorney General, shadow Home Secretary and shadow Justice Secretary. He was a member of the Standards and Privileges Committee, and Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

His work in Parliament on civil liberties and the Rule of Law was recognised by two awards – Parliamentarian of the Year in 2005 and in 2014 by a Lifetime Achievement award from Liberty. He has specialised on issues relating to Law and Order, civil liberties and international affairs as well as having an interest in environmental issues.

Liora’s scholarship addresses prisoners’ rights, criminal justice and security and human rights, and she is a leading legal educationalist, who has pioneered new courses in the Law Faculty at Oxford and who was the first admissions co-ordinator and race equality co-ordinator there.

Liora is well known for her dynamic public interest work, including the completion of public reports for the UK Ministry of Justice and the EU Parliament. Liora’s Visiting Professorship adds great strength to Goldsmiths’ criminal justice and human rights research activity, and our Law & Policy Clinic, where Liora is leading on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights work.

Liora's profile at the University of Oxford

Alison Levitt is a practising QC at leading barristers chambers 2 Hare Court. She was previously the principal legal adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), advising the DPP in relation to the highest level of prosecution cases (2009-2014) and writing the Code for Crown Prosecutors, and after that Partner and the Head of Business Crime in major international law firm Mischon de Reya LLP, where she started the White Collar Crime and Investigations department.

Alison's profile on 2harecourt.com

Leslie's high-profile work includes the inquests that followed the Birmingham Pub Bombing, the Hillsborough disaster and Mark Duggan, and he is currently representing 23 clients including survivors, bereaved families and loved ones in the Grenfell Tower inquiry.

Leslie has appeared in leading high-profile death in custody cases representing the families of the deceased (Azelle, Rodney, Mark Duggan, Christopher Alder and Sean Rigg). He was awarded Legal Aid Barrister of the Year in 2012, and again in 2016, for his work on the Hillsborough disaster. His appointment as Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths coincides with his appointment, as the first Black Professor of Law, at Gresham College. His inaugural lecture series at Gresham is examining Death, the State and Human Rights.

Leslie's profile on gardencourtchambers.co.uk

Sir Nice has practiced as a barrister since 1971 and is renowned for leading the prosecution of Slobodan Milošević, former President of Serbia. Much of his work since has been connected to cases before the permanent International Criminal Court – Sudan, Kenya, Libya – or pro bono for victims groups in Iran, Burma, North Korea.

Sir Nice is a Master of the Bench at the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, and was the Gresham Professor of Law between 2012 and 2017. Since 1984, he has sat at the Old Bailey and other jurisdictions, tribunals and inquiries as a part-time judge. Between 2009 and 2012 he was Vice-Chair of the Bar Standards Board, the body that regulates barristers. 

Geoffrey Nice Foundation

She is bringing to Goldsmiths outstanding leadership in human rights legal practice and reform, and unique experience in providing direction to a large team of lawyers, policy specialists, researchers, communications experts and fundraisers to run high-profile and influential litigation to advance human rights.

Her practice has a particular focus on access to justice, freedom of expression, community care, children and women’s rights, the rights of immigration detainees, LGBTI+ rights, and the rights of victims of rape, domestic violence and trafficking. She is the author of a number of human rights-related publications, and has worked on human rights cases at all levels, including before the Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights, and the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. 

Martha's profile on libertyhumanrights.org.uk

Adam Wagner is a leading barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, and the founder and Chair of the pioneering and multi-award-winning RightsInfo charity. He has appeared in path-breaking cases such as the successful Supreme Court challenge to the law of joint enterprise murder, as well as acting in five major public inquiries, including the Al-Sweady Inquiry into allegations of mistreatment and unlawful killing by the British military in Iraq.