Leslie Thomas QC Appointed Gresham Professor of Law

Gresham College is delighted to announce the appointment of Leslie Thomas QC as Gresham Professor of Law.

He will succeed Jo Delahunty QC. The Gresham Law Professorship is prestigious in the legal world, and recent Professors include Sir David Calcutt, Richard Susskind, Vernon Bogdanor, Baroness Deech of Cumnor and Sir Geoffrey Nice.

Leslie Thomas QC is a specialist in international human rights and constitutional law practice. He is also a barrister at Garden Court Chambers. The cases in which he has taken part include the New Cross Fire inquest, the Mark Duggan inquest, the Hillsborough inquest, the Birmingham Pub Bombings inquest, and the Grenfell public inquiry. He has a strong teaching background, including work for Kingston University, the University of Westminster and the Open University, and is a well-known public speaker in the legal field.

He will be the first black Gresham Law Professor.  

Professor Thomas said: “If George Floyd’s brutal and racist death teaches us anything it is what the Black Community have strongly suspected and complained about for decades, namely for all the lip service society pays to the cold legal concept such as ‘the right to a fair trial’, this is rendered utterly meaningless and sterile if you are black but never get to trial because you are killed by law enforcement agencies. The focus is wrong. The debate shouldn’t be solely about ‘due process’, it has got to start with a fundamental respect for the ‘right to life’. I intend to shine a spotlight on the deficiencies in the system and what I believe we need to do to ensure that ‘Black Lives matter’ equal to other lives.

“I want to share my knowledge of law, in the hope that I can educate and inspire audiences with my love and enthusiasm for the law and help them to understand the role of law as a tool for social change. I share the College’s commitment to providing free education of the highest possible standards. This is dear to my heart. Throughout my career, I have been seeking to teach others what I know.”

As Gresham Professor of Law he will continue the College’s tradition of delivering free public lectures within the City of London and beyond. During the academic year, Gresham College fills auditoriums for its lectures – a total of 130 a year. All Gresham lectures are live-streamed. More than 2,500 past lectures are freely available to view on the College’s website. The Law Professorship is one of the original seven Gresham Professorships established in Thomas Gresham’s will of 1575.

Sir Richard J Evans, Provost of Gresham College, said: “I am delighted that Leslie Thomas QC is our next Gresham Professor of Law. He is a brilliant QC and a talented and dedicated communicator who is already well-known through his work at the Grenfell Inquiry.”

Read more about Professor Leslie Thomas QC