About the Mishcon Lectures

The Mishcon Lectures were established in 1990 in honour of Lord Mishcon to mark his 75th birthday and in recognition of his achievements and service in the fields of law, education, religion, government and politics, both central and local.

The topics have ranged from:

• the role and office of the Lord Chancellor;
• freedom of conscience and religion as applied to abortion and euthenasia;
• re-inventing families, i.e. social and economic policies for the family of the 1990s, as researched by the IPPR and the Commission for Social Justice;
• the political future of Central and Eastern Europe torn apart by nationalism;
• the philosophical justification for the judicial protection of constitutional and human rights;
• the conflict between theocratic, man-centred religions and Gaia, the quasi-religious environmental philosophy;
• justice, reconciliation and forgiveness for human rights violations in human conflicts;
• populism and pluralism in the New Labour government's constitutional reform programme;
• the Blair style of leadership in comparison to previous Prime Ministers; and
• the advent of a new, human rights based, world order in International Law.

The eclectic nature of the lectures reflect UCL's wish to encompass as wide a spectrum of social, economic, moral, legal and political issues as possible, reflecting Lord Mishcon's career and interests.

The annual Mishcon Lecture has rapidly become a major event in the calendar of academic, political, legal and intellectual life in London.

2011	Lord Malloch-Brown, Chairman, EMEA & Global Affairs, FTI Consulting Inc. British Foreign Policy in a Changing World
2010	Simon Jenkins, Journalist and Author, Chairman of the National Trust Do we need defence at all?
2009	Shami Chakrabarti, Director, Liberty Common Values, Common Sense: The story of rights and freedoms in modern Britain Alternatively download this audio or video file to your iPod from iTunes U
2007	The Rt Hon Lord Justice Sedley Bringing Rights Home: Time to Start a Family?
2006	The Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws QC Who Runs Britain: Downing Street, Fleet Street or the White House? Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century
2005	Professor Philippe Sands QC, UCL Lawless World? International Law after 9/11 and Iraq
2004	The Rt Hon The Lord Woolf, then Lord Chief Justice Do we need a new approach to penal policy?
2002	Judge Richard Goldstone, Judge of the South African Constitutional Court. The Implications of September 11 for an International Rule of Law
2000	Professor Peter Hennessy, Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary and Westfield College, London; Patterns of Premiership: The Blair Style in Historical Context
1999	Dr David Marquand, then Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford; Populism and pluralism in the New Labour government’s constitutional reform programme
1998	Fergal Keane, then BBC Foreign Correspondent; Justice, Reconciliation and Forgiveness for Human Rights Violations in Human Conflicts
1997	Sir Crispin Tickell, then Master of Green College, Oxford and formerly UK ambassador to the UN; God, Gaia and the Environment
1996	Sir John Laws, then one of Her Majesty's judges of the High Court; Judicial Protection of Constitutional and Human Rights
1995	Vernon Bogdanor, then Reader in Politics and Fellow of Brasenose College, Oxford; The Political Future of Central and Eastern Europe
1993	Patricia Hewitt, then Deputy Director of the Institute of Public Policy Research; Re-Inventing Families
1991	Professor Ronald Dworkin, then Professor of Jurisprudence at Oxford; Freedom of Conscience and Religion
1990	Lord Mackay, then Lord Chancellor: The Role and Office of the Lord Chancellor