Professor Leslie Thomas KC

Professor Leslie Thomas QC, LLB (Hons); LLD (honoris causa), is a human rights/civil liberties barrister of Garden Court Chambers. He has been described as a 'voice for the dead'. 

For more than 25 years Leslie has appeared in some of the highest profile inquests in the country.

In 2012 he was awarded Legal Aid Barrister of the Year LALY. Louise Christian of Christian Khan solicitors stated “Leslie has done more for the families of those who die in custody or at the hands of the police than any other single lawyer. This is extremely difficult and not well funded work which requires extraordinary dedication and persistence and Leslie has all these things as well as enormous empathy with clients.”

In 2013 Kingston University awarded him an Honorary Doctorate for services for civil rights.

In 2014 he was awarded Queen’s Counsel.

In 2016 he received a second LALY award for his work on Hillsborough.

In 2017 he became Joint Head of Garden Court Chambers. In 2017 he was also awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in the UK Diversity Legal Awards from BSN.

Leslie is featured in the cinema documentary Injustice (2001) and Who Polices the Police (2012) by Ken Fero and was legal advisor on the BBC drama Undercover. 

In 2020 Leslie was appointed Professor of Law at Gresham College. The Law Professorship at Gresham College is over four centuries old and has been held by some of the nation's leading lawyers and legal academics. 

Current publication:

DO RIGHT AND FEAR NO ONE - Simon & Schuster - 14th April 2022

'If deaths are not investigated, then the authorities cannot be held to account and democracy is threatened. And if deaths are not investigated, we are not a society that values human life.'

Inspired from a young age to help the marginalised and voiceless, Leslie Thomas QC has dedicated his career to fighting for the underdog and holding the State to account. This intimate and personal record of some of the most significant, controversial and disturbing legal cases of the last fifty years lays bare the very heart of the law enforcement and judicial process.

It's an unforgettable account of an idealistic and outspoken lawyer's coming of age as a Black man in London, and a powerful portrait of the lives of those he has fought for. From the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, to the deaths of Christi and Bobby Shepherd by carbon monoxide poisoning, the Birmingham Pub Bombings and the police shooting of Mark Duggan, Do Right and Fear No One present a blistering argument for a level playing field in the pursuit of justice.

Praise:

'Leslie has done more for the families of those who die in custody or at the hands of the police than any other single lawyer.' -- Louise Christian ― of Christian Khan solicitors