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Called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1962, Lord Anthony Gifford KC is also a member of the Northern Ireland Bar and in1990 joined the Jamaican Bar, where he regularly appeared before the Privy Council in cases of criminal law, tort, labour law and defamation.

Lord Gifford is the founder of the very first law centre in Britain. The North Kensington Law Centre established in 1970, was the precursor to the community law centre movement which has seen 60 sites develop within communities today, ensuring legal resources are accessible to all whilst providing a good training ground for human rights practitioners.

Lord Gifford has been Counsel in the appeals of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four; Dudgeon v UK (ECtHR) and in many other human rights cases.

His work in Jamaica, is as Senior Partner in the firm of Gifford Thompson & Bright, attorneys-at-law. Lord Gifford continues an active practice in law in both Jamaica and Britain.

Human Rights Work

  • Race Relations: Chairman of the Broadwater Farm Inquiry, into the causes of riots in Tottenham, London in 1985

  • Chairman of the Liverpool 8 Inquiry, into racism in Liverpool, 1989.

  • Northern Ireland: Numerous missions into human rights violations.

  • Author of ‘Supergrasses’, a report into the use of accomplice evidence in Northern Ireland.

  • Counsel for the family of James Wray at the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

  • African Solidarity: Chairman of the Committee for Freedom in Mozambique Angola & Guine, from 1968 to the Independence of those countries in 1975

  • Vice-Chairman, British Defence and Aid Fund for South Africa, 1980-1994.

  • Observer at the first South African democratic elections, 1994.

  • Legal Advisor to the Group of Eminent Persons on Reparations.

  • International : Member of missions for Amnesty International and other human rights organisations to Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Pakistan, Chile, Grenada.

  • Member, Bertrand Russell Tribunal on Palestine.

  • Jamaica: Member of the Management Committee of the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights.

  • Member of the National Committee on Reparations, set up by the Government of Jamaica in 2009.

  • Director, Ganja Law Reform Coalition.

  • Leading Counsel on behalf of the Public Defender at the West Kingston Inquiry, 2015.

Privy Council Appearances

  • National Transport Co-operative v Attorney General [2009] UKPC 48 (contract/illegality)

  • Edward Seaga v Leslie Harper [2009] UKPC 9 (libel/privilege)

  • Vivian Scully v Gerard Coley et al [2009] UKPC 29 (pension scheme)

  • Jobson v Capital & Credit Merchant Bank [2007] UKPC 8 (mortgage/foreclosure)

  • Steven Grant v R [2006] UKPC 2 (criminal/constitutional)

  • Jamaica Flour Mills v Industrial Disputes Tribunal [2005] UKPC 16 (labour law)

  • Clinton Bernard v Attorney General [2004] UKPC 47 (vicarious liability)

  • Gleaner Company Ltd v Abrahams [2003] UKPC 55 (libel/damages)

Writing and Lecturing

  • Visiting Lecturer in Human Rights, Latrobe University, Melbourne, Australia.

  • Author of ‘Where’s the Justice?’, a Manifesto of Law Reform’ (Penguin Books, 1986)

  • Author of ‘The Passionate Advocate’, (Arawak Publications, Kingston and Wildy Simmons & Hill, London, 2007)

  • Frequent speaker in the House of Lords on human rights issues, before the abolition of the rights of hereditary peers (which he supported) in 1999.