Michael Mansfield

Michael Mansfield QC (born 12 October 1941) is an English barrister and head of chambers at Nexus Chambers.[1] He was recently described as "The king of human rights work" by The Legal 500 and as a Leading Silk in civil liberties and human rights (including actions against the police).

For other people named Michael Mansfield, see Michael Mansfield (disambiguation).

Michael Mansfield

QC
Michael Mansfield in January 2015
Born (1941-10-12) 12 October 1941
Alma materUniversity of Keele
OccupationBarrister, legal scholar
OrganisationHaldane Society of Socialist Lawyers
Nexus Chambers
Known forRepresenting:
Spouse(s)Yvette Greenway (m 2019)
ChildrenAnna Mansfield (deceased)
Leo
Keiran
Louise
Jon
WebsiteNexus Chambers

A British republican,[2] vegetarian, socialist[3] and self-described "radical lawyer",[4] he has participated in prominent and controversial court cases and inquests involving accused IRA bombers, the Birmingham Six, Bloody Sunday incident, the Hillsborough disaster and the deaths of Jean Charles de Menezes and Dodi Al-Fayed[5] and the McLibel case.

Early life

Mansfield grew up in north Finchley, North London, and attended Holmewood Preparatory School (Woodside Park) before going to Highgate School and the University of Keele, where he graduated with a BA (Hons) in history and philosophy, and was Secretary of Keele's Students' Union.

Career

Mansfield was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1967, became Queen's Counsel in 1989 and was elected as a Bencher of Gray's Inn in 2007.

He is currently the President of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, and is a Professor at Law at City University. Mansfield is a regular after dinner and keynote speaker.[6]

Notable cases
Mansfield gives the first Gerry Conlon Memorial Lecture at St. Mary's College Belfast in January 2015

As well as representing those wrongly convicted of the IRA's Guildford and Birmingham pub bombings, Mansfield has represented: the Angry Brigade; Dolours and Marian Price; Brian Keenan; the Orgreave miners; Mahmood Hussein Mattan, Ruth Ellis and James Hanratty (in posthumous appeals); those involved in the Israeli Embassy bombing; Stephen Lawrence's family; Michael Barrymore at the Stuart Lubbock inquest; Barry George at the inquest into the death of Jill Dando; the gangster Kenneth Noye;[7] the Bloody Sunday families; Arthur Scargill; Angela Cannings;[8] Fatmir Limaj, a Kosovo-Albanian leader prosecuted in the Hague; Mohamed al-Fayed in the inquest into the deaths of his son Dodi al-Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales; and the families of Jean Charles de Menezes and Mark Duggan.

In March 2019 he was engaged by the family of footballer Emiliano Sala to represent their interests in the dispute over his death.[9] He has been referred to as a "champagne socialist" though he has said that 95 per cent of his work comes from legal aid.[10]

Lockerbie bombing

Warning against over-reliance upon forensic science to secure convictions, Michael Mansfield in the BBC Scotland Frontline Scotland TV programme Silence over Lockerbie, broadcast on 14 October 1997, said he wanted to make just one point:

Forensic science is not immutable. They're not written in tablets of stone, and the biggest mistake that anyone can make—public, expert or anyone else alike—is to believe that forensic science is somehow beyond reproach: it is not! The biggest miscarriages of justice in the United Kingdom, many of them emanate from cases in which forensic science has been shown to be wrong. And the moment a forensic scientist or anyone else says: 'I am sure this marries up with that' I get worried.

Personal life

Mansfield has been married three times, to Melian Bordes for 19 years, with whom he had five children (Jonathan, Anna, Louise, Leo and Kieran), and for thirty years to the artist/filmmaker Yvette Vanson, from whom he separated in 2014 and with whom he had a son (Fred). He has been with his current wife, Yvette Greenway, since 2015.[11] His daughter, Anna, took her own life in May 2015.[12]

Political views

In November 2019, along with other public figures, Mansfield signed a letter supporting Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn describing him as "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism in much of the democratic world" and endorsed him in the 2019 UK general election.[13]

In December 2019, along with 42 other leading cultural figures, he signed a letter endorsing the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership in the 2019 general election. The letter stated that "Labour's election manifesto under Corbyn's leadership offers a transformative plan that prioritises the needs of people and the planet over private profit and the vested interests of a few."[14][15]

Charity work

Mansfield is a patron of the animal welfare organisation Viva! (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) and refers to animal production as "genocide".[16] He is also patron of Hastings Advice and Representation Centre, a charity providing free welfare benefit advice and representation for local people in Hastings, East Sussex and the surrounding area.

He is an environmental and animal rights activist and has recently stated that meat may become banned in the future, and there should be a law made to criminalise ecocide, or destruction of the environment as a result of intensive animal agriculture.[17]

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See also

References
  1. "Nexus Chambers". nexuschambers.com.
  2. Edemariam, Aida (19 July 2013). "'There is now a republican movement': anti-royal campaigners get organised". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2020. One of the things I thought staggering," says Michael Mansfield, QC, another republican, who acted for Mohamed al-Fayed in the inquest into the deaths of Dodi al-Fayed and Diana, Princess of Wales, "was the increase of the Queen's sovereign grant. She's getting £5m more than she got last year. That was the day after Osborne outlined cuts of £11.5bn. Now, I know she's got expenses – I dare say the refurbishment of Kensington Palace is necessary but why does the public have to foot the £600,000 bill, rather than the Queen?
  3. Dyer, Clare (8 April 2008). "The great defender?". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2020. No mere mouthpiece, Mansfield is a socialist who throws himself passionately into his clients' causes.
  4. Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer. London, Bloomsbury. 2009.
  5. Thom Dyke, "Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer". New Statesman. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  6. "Oxford University – An audience with Michael Mansfield QC". Retrieved 23 April 2012.
  7. "Road rage killer's appeal rejected". BBC News. 10 October 2001.
    - "Noye hires Dando QC; HE GETS 'THE BEST' IN ROAD-RAGE APPEAL". thefreelibrary.com.
  8. "Tooks Chambers". tooks.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 August 2008.
  9. Abbandonato, Paul (27 March 2019). "The Cardiff City Emiliano Sala contract dispute explained, the loopholes lawyers are exploring and the likely next steps". Wales Online.
  10. "Law". The Times.
  11. Pelling, Rowan (8 August 2015). "Michael Mansfield QC's most difficult case, his daughter's suicide". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
    - "BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs, Michael Mansfield". BBC.
  12. "Mansfield on daughter's suicide: 'Why didn't you tell me it was that bad?", BBC News, 4 February 2016
  13. Neale, Matthew (16 November 2019). "Exclusive: New letter supporting Jeremy Corbyn signed by Roger Waters, Robert Del Naja and more". NME. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  14. "Vote for hope and a decent future". The Guardian. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  15. Proctor, Kate (3 December 2019). "Coogan and Klein lead cultural figures backing Corbyn and Labour". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  16. "Viva! – Vegetarians International Voice for Animals – Star Supporters". viva.org.uk. Archived from the original on 18 April 2008.
  17. Saner, Emine (23 September 2019). "Should meat be banned to save the planet?". The Guardian.

Further reading
  • Who's Who, 2006
  • Michael Mansfield, Memoirs of a Radical Lawyer. London, Bloomsbury. 2009. ISBN 978-0-7475-7654-9
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