Press Release Date: 3 August 2010
New Director for the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law
Press Release Date: 3 August 2010 New Director for the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law The British Institute of International and Comparative Law is delighted to announce the appointment of Professor Jeffrey Jowell QC as the Director of the new Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, which is established within the Institute.
Jeffrey Jowell is a leading authority on public law. He has successfully combined a very distinguished academic career with a legal practice at Blackstone Chambers. He has assisted the drafting of a number of national constitutions. Previously the Dean of UCL’s Faculty of Law, he has been awarded a number of honorary degrees and awards including Honorary Bencher of the Middle Temple, Honorary Fellow of UCL and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Cape Town, Athens, RItsumeikan and Paris. He is the UK representative on the Council of Europe’s prestigious Commission for Democracy through Law ("The Venice Commission"), was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and was recently listed in The Times’ inaugural ‘Law 100: the UK's most powerful lawyers’ list.
Jeffrey said that ‘It is a great honour to direct a new Centre in Lord Bingham’s name and to take forward his lifelong commitment to the rule of law. The new Centre intends to be an important forum for the study and promotion of the rule of law, both in the UK and internationally.
’ Welcoming Professor Jeffrey Jowell QC as Director of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, Institute President andChairman the Rt Hon Lord Bingham of Cornhill KG said: ‘I am utterly delighted to hear of Jeffrey's appointment as Director of the Council: he will be a huge success.’
The Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law will focus on clarifying the rule of law, understanding the challenges which it faces, providing an intellectual framework within which it can operate optimally, creating the legal and policy tools to support it, and applying it to practical situations world-wide. In doing so, it will build on the work that has formed the foundation of Lord Bingham's judicial career. It will be the foremost institution of its kind specifically devoted to this important topic. Jeffrey Jowell joins the Institute at a time when the rule of law across the world is both recognised as an essential part of every society and is also frequently under threat.
The Bingham Appeal was established to raise the funds required to establish the Centre. So far, significant funding has been received from individuals at the Bar, from the judiciary, law firms, companies and trusts. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters have already embarked on significant commitments, as have Macfarlanes and Allen & Overy, the Shell Foundation, the David and Elaine Potter Foundation and the Vivmar Foundation.
If you wish to support this appeal, and make a profound and prolonged contribution to these exciting new developments, please contact the development team at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law.
Note for Editors 1. The aims of the Centre are to provide a centre of excellence for researching and refining these ideas, promoting the rule of law and the policies needed to implement and secure it.
To do this it aims to: • Provide a centre of excellence for researching and promoting the rule of law
• Provide lectures, publications and events to build a body of international expertise in the field
• Raise public awareness
• Provide opportunities for judges, administrators and others, from both developing and developed countries, to further their understanding of the rule of law
• Hold open debate with opinion makers
• Use the Institute's wide membership and contacts among well-connected lawyers and policy makers to promote the Centre's work
• Collaborate with other leading researchers and NGOs working in the field
This is an important project, supported at the highest levels of academia, the law, the judiciary, international organisations and business. However it has to be properly funded. Donations could be making a profound and prolonged contribution to the development of the world in which we live.
2. Jeffrey Jowell will continue to practise at the Bar at Blackstone Chambers.
3. The Bingham Appeal Board is chaired by Sir Christopher Bellamy and its Vice-Chairman is Paul Lomas. It is proposed that sufficient funds will continue to be raised to make our long-term vision for the Centre a reality.
4. The British Institute of International and Comparative Law continues a mission first begun in 1895: to advance the understanding of international and comparative law; to promote the rule of law in international affairs; and to promote their application through research, publications and events.
As an independent legal research institute with charitable status, unaffiliated to any university, the Institute is the only body of its sort in the UK. The Institute creates a diverse community of scholars and practitioners and serves as an unrivalled focal point for its substantial membership base.
5. For further information, visit www.biicl.org/binghamcentre/ or more information or to make a donation, please contact Diane Denny or Orsi Deak at the Institute on 020 7664 4871 or d.denny@biicl.org. 6. For general press information, please contact: Jane Nicholson-Biss j.nicholson-biss@biicl.org020 7862 5435 or 07904508230
Direct descendent Camilla Bingham, Barrister One Essex Court