Geoffrey Robertson QC & Caoilfhionn Gallagher reflect on the triumphs & challenges of human rights since 1990
Doughty Street Chambers celebrates its 25th birthday this year. It was founded in 1990 by 21 like-minded barristers who wanted to leave the Dickensian rabbit warren of the Temple and found a new Chambers dedicated to the shared ethos that—as Baroness Helena Kennedy QC has put it “law had to serve all of the people, lawyers had to be creative, courageous and progressive and that we should be striving for the highest standards in the protection of civil liberties and the Rule of Law” (“Doughty Street: the Next 25 Years” in Rights: Up Our Street—Celebrating 25 Years of Doughty Street Chambers (November 2015)).
The 21 founders included Baroness Kennedy, Peter Thornton (now the chief coroner) and Keir Starmer, former DPP and now MP for Camden. Three associate tenants supported the new chambers: Sir Louis-Blom Cooper, the great South African silk, Ismael Mohammed QC, and leader of the Mauritius Bar, Guy Ollivry QC.
Landmark cases
1990 was a tumultuous and important year in many ways:
