Sir Keir Starmer QC

Sir Keir Starmer QC Mr Chancellor Keir Starmer QC (named, it is said, after the grandfather of all Labour politicians, Keir Hardie) was educated at Reigate Grammar School and then studied law at Leeds University where he was awarded a first class degree. This was followed by the BCL at Oxford (their Law equivalent of an LLM Masters degree, though, being Oxford, they call it a Batchelors). From there, he was called to the Bar in 1987 and was a founding member of Doughty Street Barristers Chambers in 1990, where he remains a tenant, having also been joint Head of Chambers. Doughty Street currently describes its aims as being “to improve access to justice and to promote human rights and civil liberties through the law.” The Chambers was founded by fewer than 30 barristers including Sir Keir and is now one of the largest sets in the country with over 120 members, and with branch chambers in Bristol and Manchester in addition to its main chambers in London. Doughty Street’s reputation has always been one of a committed, radical, human rights set. And Keir Starmer very much fitted within that mould, having been Human Rights Lawyer of the Year in 2001, made a QC in 2002, and named as QC of the Year in human rights and public law in 2007 by the Chambers & Partners directory. In 2005 he was awarded the Bar Council's Sydney Elland Goldsmith award for his outstanding contribution to pro bono work challenging the death penalty in the Caribbean and in a number of African countries. It was perhaps therefore something of a surprise to many when he moved to become The Director of Public Prosecutions or DPP, in charge of the main, independent prosecution body in England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service or CPS. After all, while he had occasionally worked on prosecution cases for the CPS, he was best known for his defence and human rights work. In truth though, such a move was not so unusual: his predecessor as DPP was Ken Macdonald QC, who had, likewise, been a defence barrister. And prior to becoming DPP, Sir Keir had, between 2003-2008, acted as the human rights advisor to the Policing Board in Northern Ireland, working with it to ensure that the Northern Ireland police service complied with its duties under the Human Rights Act 1998. This had perhaps given him a taste for working institutionally rather than on individual cases as a barrister. I think it’s fair to say that Sir Keir’s time as DPP was not without its fair share of high profile cases – his watch saw, for example, the prosecution of a serving Government minister Chris Huhne, the retrial of the Stephen Lawrence defendants, post-Jimmy Savile celebrity sexual offences cases, and prosecutions for misuse of social media including Twitter. All of these attracted significant media attention and some were regarded as controversial. But that is an inevitable part of the territory with a top job making difficult decisions on prosecutions of high profile defendants or in novel or morally contested areas. One of his notable policy actions while in charge was to introduce transparent prosecution guidelines for key sensitive case areas including child sexual abuse and assisted suicide, which set out in advance how the CPS would approach difficult questions and issues. These guidelines were typically drawn up in a much more open and participatory way than with standard government consultation, involving as they did roundtable discussions with key stakeholders. And they were also publicised extensively, not only so that all relevant parties would know where they stood – whether that be victims or defendants – but also to raise the public profile of the CPS and DPP and to bring them out of the shadows. Sir Keir was certainly not afraid to use the media strategically. Along with openness and transparency came a drive towards increased accountability – and in particular to victims. In his term of office, the CPS introduced the ‘victim’s right to review’, which means that a victim can ask for CPS decisions to drop cases, or not to start cases, to be reviewed and reasons to be given. Both guidelines and the need to provide an account or reasons are responses to the difficult question of prosecution discretion (a subject close to my own heart – my very first journal article in the Criminal Law Review was on judicial review of the discretion to prosecute and discussed the role of guidelines – which in those days were not that easy to come by!). Justice requires cases to be individualised and for discretion not to prosecute to exist in certain circumstances. But to prevent abuse of that discretion and to allow everyone to know where they stand, you need guidelines so that people can see in advance how that discretion will be exercised, and reasons after the event, so that they can check on how it has been exercised. Of course the CPS was not immune to the Coalition Government’s cuts in public services, having its budget cut by over a quarter. But perhaps unusually for someone who has been mentioned as a prospective Labour MP (Frank Dobson’s seat, Holborn and St Pancras, so rumour has it), Sir Keir seems to have seen these, in part at least, as something of an opportunity rather than a threat – seizing the initiative to drive through a much needed shift towards digitalisation in CPS operations. He has described this shift away from paper towards digital as “one of the defining moments in the history of the criminal justice system”, involving as it did significant changes not just to CPS practices, but also to those of the police and courts – between all of whom vast reams of paper would previously have been travelling at huge expense. Having stepped down as DPP, Sir Keir has returned to private practice and has recently taken on the role of Chair of the Labour Party’s “Victims’ Taskforce” - a policy review looking at how victims are dealt with by the criminal justice system and due to report by November this year. The Taskforce also includes Labour Peer, Doreen Lawrence, and Peter Neyroud, former Chief Constable of our local Thames Valley Police. Among the proposals being considered is one where vulnerable witnesses such as children in abuse cases could be questioned by a judge, rather than being subjected to cross- examination by a defence barrister – moving us away from an adversarial system and more towards a continental, inquisitorial approach. Starmer was knighted in the 2014 New Year’s Honours list for services to law and criminal justice. One senses that he has unfinished business left to be done. Having started with individual cases and moved to institutional reform, it may be that legislative change is the next logical step in a career that has been dedicated to the cause of human rights, and criminal justice for all. Mr. Chancellor, I present to you Sir Keir Starmer QC for the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws of this University. .

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