Richard Hermer, Baron Hermer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
The Lord Hermer
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Official portrait, 2024
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| Attorney General for England and Wales Advocate General for Northern Ireland |
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| Assumed office 5 July 2024 |
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| Prime Minister | Keir Starmer |
| Preceded by | Victoria Prentis |
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
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| Assumed office 18 July 2024 Life peerage |
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| Personal details | |
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Richard Simon Hermer
1968 (age 56–57) South Glamorgan, Wales |
| Political party | Labour |
| Education | Cardiff High School University of Manchester (BA) |
Richard Simon Hermer, Baron Hermer, (born 1968) is a British barrister and life peer who has served as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland since July 2024.
Born and raised in Wales, Hermer attended Cardiff High School. He went on to study politics and modern history at the University of Manchester and later pursued a legal career, being called to the bar in 1993. He joined Doughty Street Chambers in the same year and took silk in 2009, before leaving in 2012 to join Matrix Chambers. He later became the Chair of Matrix's Management Committee, and was appointed a deputy High Court judge in 2019. He has worked on numerous Supreme Court cases, including Lungowe v Vedanta Resources plc and Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell plc. He argued that Shamima Begum should have been allowed to return to the United Kingdom to participate in her appeal when he intervened for Liberty in Begum v Home Secretary, and also represented the mother of one of the "ISIS Beatles". He represented former Guantánamo Bay detainee Abu Zubaydah in Zubaydah's Supreme Court case against the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He was also involved in multiple cases related to the war on terror.
Hermer also worked on cases relating to police misconduct. He represented the family of Adam Rickwood, who was the youngest person to die in custody in the modern era, in an inquest into Rickwood's death. He also represented the family of Ella Kissi-Debrah, who was later found to have died of air pollution. He also unsuccessfully challenged the Supreme Court over the assessment of the age of asylum seekers, as well as unsuccessfully taking the UK government to court on behalf of Sri Lankan asylum seekers coming from the Chagos Islands. In 2022, he was appointed to the Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and in 2023 he acted as an advisor to the Labour Party regarding the Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill. In 2023, Hermer represented former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams following damage claims brought against Adams.
A friend and former colleague of Keir Starmer at Doughty Street Chambers, Hermer was a donor to Starmer's campaign in the 2020 Labour leadership election. After Starmer became Prime Minister following the 2024 general election, he appointed Hermer to the government as Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland. He is the first person to have not served in Parliament before becoming Attorney General in over a century. Hermer was concurrently nominated for a life peerage, and soon afterward was appointed to the Privy Council. During his tenure, the government removed its opposition to the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, and has also overseen the prosecution of individuals who were involved in the 2024 riots. He has faced criticism in the position for his alleged intervention over the security of singer Taylor Swift during The Eras Tour, as well as controversy over alleged conflicts of interests from his past legal career, whilst serving as Attorney General.
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Early life, family and education
Richard Simon Hermer was born in South Glamorgan in 1968 to a "blue-box" Jewish family. His father, whom Hermer has described as a "proud" Conservative, was a city councillor in Cardiff and county councillor in South Glamorgan. Hermer has said that he disagreed with his father "across a wide array of political topics", but said that they never fell out over politics.
Hermer was raised in Wales and attended Cardiff High School, before studying politics and modern history at the University of Manchester. In his youth, Hermer was a volunteer for the magazine Searchlight; which later described him as an "active and dedicated" anti-fascist who worked closely with the magazine while he was a student in Manchester. He is a former sabbatical officer of the Union of Jewish Students.
Legal career (1993–2024)
Hermer was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in October 1993. He joined Doughty Street Chambers in 1993, three years after it was set up, and there he got to know founding member Keir Starmer. Hermer acted as a junior to Starmer on numerous cases, and Starmer later gave the toast at Hermer's silk ceremony in 2009. On 13 March 2012, Hermer left Doughty Street Chambers and moved to work for Matrix Chambers. He later became the Chair of Matrix's Management committee, and was also colleague of Sarah Sackman whilst working there. During his career, Hermer specialised in human rights law, public law and environmental law, with The Guardian later describing him as an "expert on international law". His practice spanned public international law and private international law as well as domestic public law and private law.
In 2000, Hermer was appointed the inaugural Human Rights Practitioner in Residence at Columbia University in New York. In November 2019, Hermer was appointed a deputy High Court judge following an open competition by the Judicial Appointments Commission.
Attorney General (2024–present)
Appointment and peerage
On 5 July 2024, after Keir Starmer became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the 2024 general election, Hermer was appointed Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland, succeeding Victoria Prentis. His appointment to the position was widely reported as a surprise, since Labour MP Emily Thornberry had served in Starmer's shadow cabinet as the Shadow Attorney General. In response to the decision, Thornberry said that Hermer was a "much more accomplished lawyer" than she could ever hope to be and that she knew Hermer would do an "outstanding job" in the position. Hermer became the first attorney general since 1922 to not have served in parliament before his appointment. He is one of two Jewish members in Starmer's cabinet, along with Ed Miliband.
On 15 July, Hermer was sworn in as Attorney General at the Royal Courts of Justice by Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, alongside Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood and Solicitor General Sarah Sackman. In his swearing-in speech, Hermer stated that legal analysis of the law officers would "always be guided by law not politics", and that it was their "job to speak truth to power." Hermer also said in his speech that the values they were seeking to protect were "not the property of any political party" and said that the task had "never been more urgent." He was created a life peer as Baron Hermer, of Penylan in the City of Cardiff, on 18 July. Hermer was introduced to the House of Lords on 22 July. He made his maiden speech on 23 July; in which he said that the government would be "clamping down on improper donations to political parties", and also that they would "reset relations" with the devolved governments and "foster greater collaboration".
Government policy and agenda
In October 2024, Hermer announced in the 2024 Bingham Lecture on the rule of law the government's project of "restoration and resilience", with three themes to guide the project: rebuilding the UK's international rule of law leadership, defending and strengthening Parliament's role in upholding the rule of law, and promoting a rule of law culture which would build public trust in the law and its institutions. In the speech, Hermer confirmed that the government would continue to abide by and unequivocally support the European Convention on Human Rights, and said that walking away total abdication of international law responsibilities. Hermer also confirmed his endorsement for Dapo Akande's nomination to the International Court of Justice. He also said that the government would be "unwavering" in its commitment to tackle climate change.
Hermer has advocated for reform of the UN security council to include permanent representation from Africa, Brazil, India, Japan and Germany. He attended a UN Security Council meeting on 24 October 2024 in New York where he called for the empowering of women and girls so that the need to work together for peace, progress and equality could be achieved.
Personal life
Hermer is Jewish and is a member of Alyth, a Reform synagogue in Temple Fortune, London. He is fan of Welsh rugby teams. He is a father. In July 2023, he said that he had family members who were currently serving in the Israel Defense Forces. Hermer previously gave legal advice to Searchlight magazine and was also patron of Searchlight Research Associates.
Hermer is a friend of Keir Starmer; The Guardian describes them as having a "close relationship". He is also a friend of David Wolfson, Baron Wolfson of Tredegar.
Honours and recognition
- In 2009, Hermer took silk, i.e. was appointed Queen's Counsel (now KC).
- In August 2011, Hermer was named The Times lawyer of the week.
- On 9 July 2024, Hermer was nominated Group litigation silk of the year in the 2024 Legal 500 Bar awards.
- On 10 July 2024, Hermer was sworn of the Privy Council, entitling him to be styled "The Right Honourable" for life.
