Peter Duffy QC (25 August 1954 – 5 March 1999) was a British barrister. Educated at

Wimbledon College Wimbledon College is a government-maintained, voluntary-aided, Jesuit Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form for boys aged 11 to 19 in Wimbledon, London. The college was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning for the g ...

, London, he read law at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

, where he received a first class degree. He went on to Queen Mary College, London, where he taught from 1979 to 1989. He was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1978. He took silk in 1997. As a barrister Peter Duffy made a significant contribution to the advancement of human rights. He appeared in many of the most important human rights cases of the 1990s. Most notably he successfully appeared on behalf of Diane Blood in the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

in her bid to try and conceive her dead husband's child. He was a tireless advocate on behalf of gay rights. He persuaded the

European Commission of Human Rights The European Commission of Human Rights was a special body of the Council of Europe. From 1954 to the entry into force of Protocol 11 to the European Convention on Human Rights, individuals did not have direct access to the European Court of Hu ...

to condemn discrimination in the gay age of consent and he challenged the ban on gays and lesbians in the armed forces. He later represented

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

, the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and others in the Pinochet case before the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

. From 1989 to 1991 he was chairman of Amnesty's international executive committee.

Death

He died in London on 5 March 1999, aged 44.

Legacy

The Peter Duffy Human Rights Award is awarded annually by

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.) Lincol ...

. It provides money for young barristers to spend three months under supervision at the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

in Strasbourg. Another award that bears his name is the Peter Duffy Scholarship, awarded annually by the Bar European Group, a Specialist Bar Association 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 ...

of England and Wales, of which Duffy had been Chair at the time of his death in 1999. Finally, The Human Rights Lawyer's Association annually awards the Peter Duffy Memorial Award. This award highlights the strongest applicant to their bursary scheme, which assists law students in undertaking internships and other unpaid work in the human rights field.

References

1999 deaths English barristers People educated at Wimbledon College English people of Irish descent British King's Counsel 1954 births Place of birth missing 20th-century English lawyers {{UK-law-bio-stub