Kier Starmer, defence barrister FOC in McLibel case 1997-2007 'No Justice Without Legal Aid'

Aged 35-45 barrister Kier Starmer acted for Dave Morris and Helen Steel, the infamous McLibel two. Now... see www.stopstarmer.co.uk

Source: McLibel: full documentary (Official)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V58kK4r26yk

Starmer became a barrister in 1987 at the Middle Temple, becoming a bencher there in 2009.[4] He served as a legal officer for the campaign group Liberty until 1990.[13] He was a member of Doughty Street Chambers from 1990 onwards, primarily working on human rights issues.[11][13] He has been called to the bar in several Caribbean countries,[23] where he has defended convicts sentenced to the death penalty.[8] He assisted Helen Steel and David Morris in the McLibel case, in the trial and appeal in English courts, also represented them at the European court.[24] The case was seen as a David and Goliath case; a large team of leading lawyers represented McDonald's and the legal bills were estimated at £10m. By contrast Steel and Morris were denied legal aid, they acted on their own with help from lawyers including Starmer.[25]

Starmer was appointed Queen's Counsel on 9 April 2002, aged 39.[26] In the same year, he became joint head of Doughty Street Chambers. Starmer served as a human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Association of Chief Police Officers, and was also a member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's death penalty advisory panel from 2002 to 2008.[4][13] He later cited his work on policing in Northern Ireland as being a key influence on his decision to pursue a political career: "Some of the things I thought that needed to change in police services we achieved more quickly than we achieved in strategic litigation ... I came better to understand how you can change by being inside and getting the trust of people". During this time he also marched and authored legal opinions against the Iraq War.[8] In 2007, he was named "QC of the Year" by Chambers and Partners.[13]
Director of Public Prosecutions
Starmer as Director of Public Prosecutions speaking at Chatham House in 2013

In July 2008, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, Attorney General for England and Wales, named Starmer as the new head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Director of Public Prosecutions. He took over from Ken Macdonald on 1 November 2008.[13] Macdonald, himself a former defence lawyer, publicly welcomed the appointment.[14] Starmer was considered to be bringing a focus on human rights into the legal system.[13]

Within the first few months of his tenure, Starmer upheld the decision not to prosecute the police officers who had killed Jean Charles de Menezes in a UK High Court appeal lodged by the family.[27] The family then gave up on pursuing charges and nobody has been charged with the death of de Menezes.[28] Later in 2009, when the Conservative Party proposed repealing the Human Rights Act 1998, Starmer defended it as a "clear and basic statement of our citizens' human rights".[29] Liberty and the Liberal Democrats supported Starmer, while the Conservative MP David T. C. Davies suggested he should be dismissed.[30] In the same year, he called for the CPS to modernise by being more open to scrutiny and less reliant on paper files.[31] In 2011, he introduced reforms that included the "first test paperless hearing".[32]