Anthony Julius
Encyclopedia
Anthony Julius is a prominent British lawyer and academic, best known for his actions on behalf of Diana, Princess of Wales
, Deborah Lipstadt
and more recently Heather Mills. He is Deputy Chairman for the London law firm Mishcon de Reya
.
Julius is known for his opposition to new antisemitism, the alleged expression of antisemitic prejudice couched in terms of certain kinds of discursive assaults on Israel
, and gives frequent talks on the subject all over the world to raise awareness. He is a founding member of both Engage and the Euston Manifesto
.
menswear retailer, educated at the City of London School
. His father died young of a brain tumour. Julius studied English literature
at Jesus College, Cambridge
graduating in 1977 with a first class degree
and completed a Ph.D. in English literature at University College London
under the novelist and academic Dan Jacobson
. He joined Mishcon de Reya
, a Bloomsbury
law firm in 1981 becoming a partner in 1984. Currently he is Deputy Chairman to that firm.
He married Judith Bernie in 1979 and had four children with her.
In 1999, following his divorce, he married Dina Rabinovitch and had one child with her. She died in 2007 of breast cancer. He married Katarina Lester in 2009.
He represented Deborah Lipstadt
, successfully defending her, with Richard Rampton
QC
, against a libel suit brought against her by Holocaust denier
David Irving
.
Julius is a commercial litigator. He is a specialist in the fields of defamation, international trade
disputes, and media law. He recently became a solicitor-advocate, which allows him to act as a barrister
in so far as he can now appear in the High Court
and the Court of Appeal
.
He has written a number of books on various topics, including his PhD
thesis which discussed the anti-semitism
of T. S. Eliot
. He has been a part-time lecturer at the Law Faculty of University College London
. He is Vice-President of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
, and was one of the charity's founders and its first Chairman. He is Chairman of the London Consortium
and a Visiting Professor at Birkbeck, University of London
.
In 2005 Julius made Arcadia Books pulp the book Empress Bianca
on behalf of his client Lily Safra
.
Julius has promised to defend individuals and institutions affected by the most recent proposed academic boycott of Israeli universities
. Writing in the Guardian, in an article co-authored with historian Simon Schama
, Julius compared the academic boycott to policies adopted by Nazi Germany, noting “This is not the first boycott call directed at Jews. On April 1, 1933, a week after he came to power, Hitler ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores.” He considers the proposition unfair for singling out Israel as "uniquely evil" among nations, and said he would be delighted to act to protect those who, for example, face contractual difficulties as a result of any boycott.
In 2008, Julius was critical of a signed statement by Independent Jewish Voices, a liberal group, for Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza
. Julius said "It is by no means unarguable that Israel is right to treat Gaza as an enemy territory. It is hard to see on what basis Israel's actions can be seen as a violation and only one or two of the signatories could grapple with issues involved."
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
, Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Esther Lipstadt, Ph.D. is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust and The Eichmann Trial. She is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University...
and more recently Heather Mills. He is Deputy Chairman for the London law firm Mishcon de Reya
Mishcon de Reya
Mishcon de Reya is an international law firm with offices in London offering a range of legal and advocacy services for businesses and individuals...
.
Julius is known for his opposition to new antisemitism, the alleged expression of antisemitic prejudice couched in terms of certain kinds of discursive assaults on Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, and gives frequent talks on the subject all over the world to raise awareness. He is a founding member of both Engage and the Euston Manifesto
Euston Manifesto
The Euston Manifesto is a 2006 declaration of principles by a group of academics, journalists, and activists based in the United Kingdom. The statement is a reaction to what are asserted to be widespread violations of leftist principles by others who are commonly associated with the political Left...
.
Life
He is a son of a successful LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
menswear retailer, educated at the City of London School
City of London School
The City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...
. His father died young of a brain tumour. Julius studied English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College, Cambridge
Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The College was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock, then Bishop of Ely...
graduating in 1977 with a first class degree
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
and completed a Ph.D. in English literature at University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
under the novelist and academic Dan Jacobson
Dan Jacobson
Dan Jacobson is a novelist, short story writer, critic and essayist. He has lived in Great Britain for most of his adult life, and for many years held a professorship in the English Department at University College London...
. He joined Mishcon de Reya
Mishcon de Reya
Mishcon de Reya is an international law firm with offices in London offering a range of legal and advocacy services for businesses and individuals...
, a Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
law firm in 1981 becoming a partner in 1984. Currently he is Deputy Chairman to that firm.
He married Judith Bernie in 1979 and had four children with her.
In 1999, following his divorce, he married Dina Rabinovitch and had one child with her. She died in 2007 of breast cancer. He married Katarina Lester in 2009.
Activities
He was selected by Diana, Princess of Wales, as her legal representative in her divorce from Prince Charles.He represented Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Lipstadt
Deborah Esther Lipstadt, Ph.D. is an American historian and author of the book Denying the Holocaust and The Eichmann Trial. She is the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University...
, successfully defending her, with Richard Rampton
Richard Rampton
Richard Rampton QC is a leading British libel lawyer. He has been involved in several high profile cases, with his defence of Deborah Lipstadt and Penguin Books against David Irving among the most famous. In Irving v. Penguin Books and Lipstadt, he represented them against false accusations of...
QC
QC
In Commonwealth countries, QC refers to Queen's Counsel, a distinguished and experienced legal practitioner.QC may also refer to:* Quebec Canada Post provincial abbreviation...
, against a libel suit brought against her by Holocaust denier
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
.
Julius is a commercial litigator. He is a specialist in the fields of defamation, international trade
International trade
International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories. In most countries, such trade represents a significant share of gross domestic product...
disputes, and media law. He recently became a solicitor-advocate, which allows him to act as a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
in so far as he can now appear in the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
and the Court of Appeal
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
The Court of Appeal of England and Wales is the second most senior court in the English legal system, with only the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom above it...
.
He has written a number of books on various topics, including his PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
thesis which discussed the anti-semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
of T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
. He has been a part-time lecturer at the Law Faculty of University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
. He is Vice-President of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund is an independent grant-giving foundation established in September 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, to continue her humanitarian work in the United Kingdom and overseas...
, and was one of the charity's founders and its first Chairman. He is Chairman of the London Consortium
London Consortium
The London Consortium is a graduate school in the UK offering multidisciplinary Masters and Doctoral programs in the humanities and cultural studies at the University of London. It is administered by Birkbeck, University of London, one of the constituent colleges of the University of London, and...
and a Visiting Professor at Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London
Birkbeck, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It offers many Master's and Bachelor's degree programmes that can be studied either part-time or full-time, though nearly all teaching is...
.
In 2005 Julius made Arcadia Books pulp the book Empress Bianca
Empress Bianca
Empress Bianca, the first novel by Lady Colin Campbell, was initially published in June, 2005. One month later, Arcadia Books, the British publisher, withdrew the book and pulped all unsold copies in reaction to a legal threat intiated on behalf of Lily Safra under her interpretation that the book...
on behalf of his client Lily Safra
Lily Safra
Lily Safra is a Brazilian-Monegasque philanthropist and social figure who attained considerable wealth after four marriages. Her net worth is estimated at $1 billion, ranking her as the 701st richest person in the world according to Forbes in 2009...
.
Julius has promised to defend individuals and institutions affected by the most recent proposed academic boycott of Israeli universities
Academic boycotts of Israel
Proposals for an academic boycott of Israel have been inspired by the historic academic boycotts of South Africa which were an attempt to pressure South Africa to end its policies of Apartheid....
. Writing in the Guardian, in an article co-authored with historian Simon Schama
Simon Schama
Simon Michael Schama, CBE is a British historian and art historian. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He is best known for writing and hosting the 15-part BBC documentary series A History of Britain...
, Julius compared the academic boycott to policies adopted by Nazi Germany, noting “This is not the first boycott call directed at Jews. On April 1, 1933, a week after he came to power, Hitler ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores.” He considers the proposition unfair for singling out Israel as "uniquely evil" among nations, and said he would be delighted to act to protect those who, for example, face contractual difficulties as a result of any boycott.
In 2008, Julius was critical of a signed statement by Independent Jewish Voices, a liberal group, for Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza
Gaza
Gaza , also referred to as Gaza City, is a Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, with a population of about 450,000, making it the largest city in the Palestinian territories.Inhabited since at least the 15th century BC,...
. Julius said "It is by no means unarguable that Israel is right to treat Gaza as an enemy territory. It is hard to see on what basis Israel's actions can be seen as a violation and only one or two of the signatories could grapple with issues involved."
Selected publications
- T.S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form (1st edition Cambridge University Press 1995, 2nd edition Thames & Hudson 2003), based on his PhD thesis
- Idolising Pictures (Thames & Hudson 2000).
- Transgressions: The Offences of Art (Thames & Hudson 2002).
- "Art Crimes", in Law and Literature (Oxford University Press 1999) and in Dear Images: Art, Copyright and Culture (Ridinghouse 2003).
- Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England (Oxford University Press 2010). ISBN 9780199297054.
Further reading
- "The hollow man" GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
review of Julius's book on Eliot - Appointment as chair of the London Consortium.
- "Engage"
- "The Euston Manifesto"
- "'Finding Our Voice' Conference"