Anthony Frank Scrivener QC (31 July 1935 – 27 March 2015) was a British barrister. His high profile clients led him to becoming one of the highest paid barristers in the UK, commanding the first £1 million brief. He spent a period as chair of the

Bar Council {{see also, Bar association A bar council ( ga, Comhairle an Bharra) or bar association, in a common law jurisdiction with a legal profession split between solicitors and barristers or advocates, is a professional body that regulates the profes ...

, where he pushed for reform.

Biography

Frank Bertram Scrivener was born in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

on 31 July 1935. His father, Frank Bertram Scrivener was a shopkeeper and ironmonger and his mother was Edna Isabella Agnes, née Mather. Known to his friends as 'Scriv', he added “Anthony” to his name. He was educated at

Kent College ) , established = 1885 , closed = , type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Methodist , president = , head_label = , hea ...

, and

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, where he read law and graduated in 1957, then being called to the bar at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

in 1958. He lectured in law in

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

for two years, returned to the UK and became a QC in 1975. He was elected chairman of the

in 1990 and used the appointment to push through reforming measures.Anthony Scrivener 100% Pure Silk at ''The Independent'' 19 March 1996
Retrieved 28 March 2015 Scrivener's clients included notable individuals such as Sir Richard Branson,

Gerry Conlon Gerard Patrick "Gerry" Conlon (1 March 1954 – 21 June 2014) was an Irish man known for being one of the Guildford Four who spent 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of being a Provisional IRA bomber. Biography Gerard Conlon was ...

of the

Guildford Four Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

, Jack Lyons of the

Guinness Four The Guinness share-trading fraud was a major business scandal of the 1980s. It involved the manipulation of the London stock market to inflate the price of Guinness shares to thereby assist Guinness's £4 billion takeover bid for the Scottish dri ...

, Lee Clegg, Ken Livingstone,

Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (15 September 1879 – 7 April 1939) was an Australian politician who served as the 10th Prime Minister of Australia, in office from 1932 until his death in 1939. He began his career in the Australian Labor Party (ALP), ...

Asil Nadir, Tony Martin, Peter Godber, Dame Shirley Porter and

Winston Silcott Winston Silcott (born 1959),Winston Silcott: An infamous past
(

Scrivener was one of the highest earning members of the bar, including the first £1 million brief for one of the members of the

Carrian Group The Carrian Group was a Hong Kong conglomerate that was known for rapid expansion in the 1980s, which ended in collapse amidst a major corruption and fraud scandal. Founding Carrian was founded in 1977 by George Tan Soon-gin, who fled Singapore ...

fraud trial. Despite this, he was a strong supporter of legal aid, and included ''pro bono'' work in his practice. In 1989, Scrivener became the vice-chairman of the

, and became chair in 1990. There he instigated a number of reforms to the law of England and Wales, as well as pushing for reforms further to open up the bar to ethnic minorities and women. Scrivener married three times; to Sheila Mary Arnott (1958), to Irén Becze (1964) and to Ying Hui Tan, a barrister (1993). Scrivener died on 27 March 2015, at Rendlesham Care Centre, Rendlesham, Suffolk, aged 79 from complications caused by

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

.''The Times'' Obituary Anthony Scrivener QC, p88. 28 March 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scrivener, Anthony 1935 births 2015 deaths British barristers Members of Gray's Inn British King's Counsel Alumni of University College London People educated at Kent College British republicans