Jeffrey Jowell is the inaugural Director of the new Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, in London and a practicing barrister at Blackstone Chambers. He was knighted (KCMG) in the Queen’s Honours List 2011 “for services to human rights, democracy and the rule of law.”

He has held positions at a number of institutions including Non-Executive Director of the Office of Rail Regulation; Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Chair of the Council of the Institute for Philanthropy, Chair of the British Waterways Ombudsman Committee and has acted as Constitutional Advisor to a number of Commonwealth countries. In 2000 he was appointed as the UK’s representative to the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. Additionally, he is also an Emeritus Professor of Public Law at University College London where he was twice Dean for the Law Faculty and Vice Provost.