Anthony Stephen Grabiner, Baron Grabiner, KC (born 21 March 1945) is a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, academic administrator, and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

. He is head of chambers at One Essex Court, a leading set of commercial barristers in the Temple, and was the Treasurer of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

for 2013. From 2014 to 2021 he served as the Master of Clare College, Cambridge and, since 2015, he has served as the President of the University of Law. Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, the holding company of Sir Philip Green behind Arcadia Group from 2002 to December 2015. In 1999, he was made a life peer as Baron Grabiner, and sat in the House of Lords on the Labour Party benches. In October 2015, he resigned the Labour

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

over the direction the party was taking under Jeremy Corbyn. He sat in the Lords as a non-affiliated member and now

crossbench peer A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

, but remains a member of the Labour Party.

Early life

Grabiner was born on 21 March 1945 to Jewish parents, Ralph Grabiner and Freda Cohen. He was educated in the Central Foundation Boys' School. He studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 1966, and with a Master of Laws (LLM) with distinction one year later. He was further educated in

, and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1968.

Career

From 1976 to 1981, Grabiner was Standing Junior Counsel to the

Department of Trade Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

and the Export Credits Guarantee Department and Junior Counsel to the Crown from 1978 to 1981. Made a Queen's Counsel in 1981, he became a Bencher in 1989, and a Recorder of the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all Indictable offence, indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals lied to it by the Magistrates' court, magistrates' court ...

between 1990 and 1999. Grabiner has been a Deputy High Court Judge since 1994. Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Arcadia Group from October 2002 to December 2015, of which his first cousin, Ian Grabiner has been chief executive officer (CEO) since October 2009, and chief operating officer (COO) since 2002. He was a non-executive director of Next plc in 2002, and a member of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

Financial Services Law Committee from 2002 to 2005. In the week ending 15 October 2010, Lord Grabiner represented Liverpool Football Club in the London High Court and won two cases against the then current owners of Liverpool Football Club. Lord Grabiner's service to Liverpool Football Club has been noted by international news organisations. In July 2011, Grabiner was appointed by News Corporation as chairman of the management and standards committee established by the company in the wake of the News International phone hacking scandal. It was subsequently reported in '' The Lawyer'' magazine that Grabiner would be receiving a fee of £3,000 an hour for his advice to News Corporation.

Academic career

Grabiner was Chair of the Governors of the London School of Economics from 1998 until 2007. In December 2013, it was announced that he had been elected Master of Clare College, Cambridge University, to succeed Professor Tony Badger in October 2014. On 1 August 2015, Grabiner was appointed as the President of the University of Law.

Political career

On 26 July 1999, Grabiner was created a

with the title Baron Grabiner, of Aldwych in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

. From 1999 to 2015, he sat in the House of Lords on the Labour Party benches. On 24 October 2015, he announced that he had resigned the Labour

but would remain a party member. He was the second Labour peer to resign the whip over the views of the new party leader, Jeremy Corbyn. Grabiner explained his resignation to '' The Times'': "I have nothing in common whatever with Mr Corbyn — and I don't believe we are ever going to win an election." He has sat in the Lords as a cross-bench member since 2016.

Taveta Investments

Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, the holding company of Sir Philip Green behind Arcadia Group from 2002 to December 2015. In July 2016, Grabiner was denounced in an official report by Members of Parliament in relationship to his chairmanship of Taveta, for having a "remarkably docile attitude" and representing the "apogee of weak corporate governance". Furthermore, MPs stated that "He was content to provide a veneer of establishment credibility to the group while happily disengaging from the key decisions he had a responsibility to scrutinise. For this deplorable performance he received a considerable salary".

Personal life

Since 1983, Lord Grabiner has been married to Jane Portnoy. They have three sons and one daughter.

Marylebone Cricket Club

Lord Grabiner is a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club. He was a member of the club's Development Committee from which, along with

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

, he resigned over the club's failure to proceed with a development "Masterplan" in 2012.

Other sources

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabiner, Anthony 1945 births Living people People educated at Central Foundation Boys' School Alumni of the London School of Economics English Jews Labour Party (UK) life peers Members of Lincoln's Inn Masters of Clare College, Cambridge Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics Crossbench life peers Jewish British politicians Life peers created by Elizabeth II