| 1 | Name: | Lord Anthony Lester | |
| Institution: | Blackstone Chambers; International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (INTERIGHTS) | ||
| Year Elected: | 2003 | ||
| Class: | 5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs | ||
| Subdivision: | 502. Physicians, Theologians, Lawyers, Jurists, Architects, and Members of Other Professions | ||
| Residency: | International | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1936 | ||
| Death Date: | August 8, 2020 | ||
Anthony Lester QC (Lord Lester of Herne Hill) practiced at the English Bar and specialized in constitutional and human rights law. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and received his law degree from Harvard University Law School in 1962 as a Harkness Commonwealth Fellow. He was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1964 and became a QC in 1975. Lord Lester has argued constitutional and human rights cases in the United Kingdom and in European and Commonwealth courts. Between 1974 and 1976, he served as Special Advisor to Home Secretary Roy Jenkins and was charged with the responsibility for developing policy on race relations, sex discrimination and human rights. He also served as Special Advisor to the Standing Advisory Commission in Northern Ireland (1975-1977). Lord Lester was a founding member of the Social Democratic Party. He has written numerous books and articles on human rights and constitutional law including Race and Law and Justice in the American South and Five Ideas to Fight For. He is also the co-editor of Butterworths Human Rights Law and Practice. Lord Lester campaigned successfully for the Human Rights Act (1998) and is president of INTERIGHTS (the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights). These accomplishments were acknowledged when he was made a Life Peer in 1993. Lord Lester was elected to membership in the American Philosophical Society in 2003. He died on August 8, 2020, at age 84. | |||