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Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson AO, KC (born 30 September 1946) is an Australian-British barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. Robertson is a founder and joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. He serves as a Master of the Bench at the Middle Temple, a recorder, and visiting professor at Queen Mary University of London.
Robertson was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up in the suburb of Eastwood. His father, Frank, survived an RAAF training flight crash in Chiltern, Victoria, in 1943, and went on to be a senior officer of the Commonwealth Bank, and later a stockbroker.
Robertson went to Epping Boys High School and then attended the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1966 and a Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours in 1970. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law from University College in 1972. In 2006 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Sydney.
Robertson won Australian Humanist of the Year in 2014 for his work as a human rights lawyer and advocate.
Robertson became a barrister in 1973, and was appointed QC in 1988. He became well known after acting as defence counsel in the celebrated English criminal trials of OZ, Gay News, the ABC trial, The Romans in Britain (the prosecution brought by Mary Whitehouse), Randle & Pottle, the Brighton bombing and Matrix Churchill. He also defended the artist J. S. G. Boggs from a private prosecution brought by the Bank of England regarding his depictions of British currency.
In 1989 and 1990 he led the defence team for Rick Gibson, a Canadian artist, and Peter Sylveire, a director of an art gallery, who were charged with outraging public decency for exhibiting earrings made from human foetuses.
He has also acted in well-known libel cases, including defending The Guardian against Neil Hamilton MP. Robertson was threatened by terrorists for representing Salman Rushdie.
In 1972 he advised Peter Hain as a McKenzie friend when Hain defended himself on several charges including conspiracy to trespass arising from his involvement in anti-apartheid protests, as a protest against the apartheid regime. During the ten-day trial at the Old Bailey Hain dismissed his QCs, but retained Robertson and another as advisers, before being convicted and fined £200. Robertson was also employed to defend John Stonehouse after his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974.
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Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Ronald Robertson AO, KC (born 30 September 1946) is an Australian-British barrister, academic, author and broadcaster. Robertson is a founder and joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. He serves as a Master of the Bench at the Middle Temple, a recorder, and visiting professor at Queen Mary University of London.
Robertson was born in Sydney, Australia, and grew up in the suburb of Eastwood. His father, Frank, survived an RAAF training flight crash in Chiltern, Victoria, in 1943, and went on to be a senior officer of the Commonwealth Bank, and later a stockbroker.
Robertson went to Epping Boys High School and then attended the University of Sydney, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1966 and a Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours in 1970. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law from University College in 1972. In 2006 he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws by the University of Sydney.
Robertson won Australian Humanist of the Year in 2014 for his work as a human rights lawyer and advocate.
Robertson became a barrister in 1973, and was appointed QC in 1988. He became well known after acting as defence counsel in the celebrated English criminal trials of OZ, Gay News, the ABC trial, The Romans in Britain (the prosecution brought by Mary Whitehouse), Randle & Pottle, the Brighton bombing and Matrix Churchill. He also defended the artist J. S. G. Boggs from a private prosecution brought by the Bank of England regarding his depictions of British currency.
In 1989 and 1990 he led the defence team for Rick Gibson, a Canadian artist, and Peter Sylveire, a director of an art gallery, who were charged with outraging public decency for exhibiting earrings made from human foetuses.
He has also acted in well-known libel cases, including defending The Guardian against Neil Hamilton MP. Robertson was threatened by terrorists for representing Salman Rushdie.
In 1972 he advised Peter Hain as a McKenzie friend when Hain defended himself on several charges including conspiracy to trespass arising from his involvement in anti-apartheid protests, as a protest against the apartheid regime. During the ten-day trial at the Old Bailey Hain dismissed his QCs, but retained Robertson and another as advisers, before being convicted and fined £200. Robertson was also employed to defend John Stonehouse after his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974.
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