Contact details
Westminster
House of Lords, London, SW1A 0PW
Tel: 020 7219 2999
lestera@parliament.uk
Biography
Lords career
Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for:
Discrimination Law Reform 2008-09,
Women and Equality 2009-10
Party groups
Founder member, Social Democrat Party 1981;
President, Liberal Democrat Lawyers' Association
Councils, public bodies
Governor, British Institute of Human Rights;
Member, Council of Justice 1977-;
President, Interights (International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights) 1991-;
European Roma Rights Centre:
Executive Committee,
Co-chair 1998-2001;
Member, board of directors, Salzburg Seminar 1996-2000;
Open Society Justice Initiative Board 2000-;
Chair, Equal Rights Trust 2006-07;
Vice-president, English PEN 2010;
Commissioner, Bill of Rights Commission 2011-
International bodies
Board member, Open Society Institute Justice Initiative 2000-
Political interests
Human rights, constitutional reform, law reform, equality and non-discrimination, media, European political integration
Countries of interest
India, Ireland, South Africa, USA
Name, style and title
Raised to the peerage as Baron Lester of Herne Hill, of Herne Hill in the London Borough of Southwark 1993
Register of Interests
2: Remunerated employment, office, profession etc.
Member, Commission on a Bill of Rights
Self-employed practising member of the English Bar, specialising in constitutional and administrative law, employment, media, commercial and European law
Co-editor (and contributor), Butterworths Human Rights Law and Practice
4: Shareholdings (b)
Investor AB (Swedish registered investment and holding company)
Jardine Strategic Holdings Limited (Singapore listed holding company)
5: Land and property
Shop in Somerset owned jointly with wife
6: Sponsorship
Secretarial research and assistance, and office accommodation, is provided through Odysseus Trust Limited and funded by Sigrid Rausing Trust and Foundation Open Society Institute
10: Non-financial interests (a)
Director, Odysseus Trust Ltd (not-for-profit company that conducts research into human rights and constitutional matters and advises on an all-party basis)
10: Non-financial interests (b)
Member, Advisory Board and Executive Council, Centre for European Law, King's College, London
Member, Advisory Board, Institute of European Public Law, University of Hull
Member, Advisory Panel, Centre for Public Law, Cambridge
Member, Advisory Board, Institute of European Public Law
Bencher, Lincoln's Inn
10: Non-financial interests (c)
Trustee, Miriam Rothschild and John Galway Foster Human Rights Trust
10: Non-financial interests (d)
Member, Board of Advisers of Freedom Now
10: Non-financial interests (e)
Member, International Editorial Board, International Journal of Discrimination and the Law
Governor, British Institute for Human Rights
Hon President and Board Member, INTERIGHTS (International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights)
Joint President, United Nations Association Westminster Branch
Member, Advisory Board, Irish Yearbook of International Law
Member, Editorial Committee, "Public Law"
Member, Expert Counsel Panel, Liberty
Member of Council, JUSTICE
Member, Executive Board, Open Society Institute Justice Initiative
President, Human Rights Lawyers' Association
Vice President, English PEN
Friend of the Sigrid Rausing Trust