Joshua Rufus Rozenberg KC (hon) (born 30 May 1950) is a British

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

legal Law is a set of rules that are created and are law enforcement, enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a Socia ...

affairs commentator, and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Education and career

Joshua Rozenberg was educated at

Latymer Upper School Latymer Upper School is a public school in Hammersmith, London, England, on King Street. It derives from a charity school, and is part of the same 1624 Latymer Foundation, from a bequest by the English legal official Edward Latymer. There ...

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

and

Wadham College Wadham College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy Wadham, a ...

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where he took a law degree. He qualified as a

in 1976 after training at Dixon Ward solicitors in

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

, although he never practised law. Rozenberg began his career in journalism in 1975 at the BBC, where he launched ''Law in Action'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in 1984. At the BBC he worked as a producer, reporter and then legal correspondent. In 2000 he left to join ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' as legal affairs editor, where he remained until the end of 2008. He resigned from his ''Telegraph'' position in 2007, explaining in 2015 his reasons for doing so. While reporting for the newspaper on the House of Lords legal ruling on the applicability of the

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the ...

outside Britain, ''Telegraph'' editors pressured him to include a statement that, under the ruling, legal claimants against the actions of British Army in Iraq would be entitled to millions of pounds in compensation. In Rozenberg's view this was not accurate, and he refused to include the statement. According to Rozenberg, ''Telegraph'' news editors later altered one of his reports without his knowledge to include such a statement, one that Rozenberg had warned them was false; the claim appeared under his

by-line The byline (or by-line in British English) on a newspaper or magazine article gives the name of the writer of the Article (publishing), article. Bylines are commonly placed between the headline and the text of the article, although some magazines ...

. After leaving the ''Telegraph'' Rozenberg wrote a column for the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

.'' A freelance journalist since his ''Telegraph'' tenure, he writes regular columns for the ''

Law Society Gazette ''The Law Society Gazette'' (also known as the ''Gazette'' or the ''Law Gazette'') is a British weekly legal magazine for solicitors in England and Wales published by the Law Society of England and Wales. While it is available to buy and on su ...

'' and ''The Critic''. He wrote a weekly column for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

's'' online law page from 2010 to 2016. Also in 2010, nearly 25 years after leaving the radio programme, he returned to the BBC to present ''Law in Action'' until its final edition in March 2024. He continues to be seen on BBC Television News as a legal affairs analyst.

Recognition

Rozenberg holds honorary doctorates in law from the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a Universities in the United Kingdom, university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield ...

(1999),

Nottingham Trent University Nottingham Trent University (NTU) is a public research university located in Nottingham, England. Its origins date back to 1843 with the establishment of the Nottingham School of Design, Nottingham Government School of Design, which still opera ...

(2012), the

University of Lincoln The University of Lincoln is a public university, public research university in Lincoln, England, Lincoln, England, with origins dating back to 1861. It gained university status in 1992 and its present name in 2001. The main campus is in the hea ...

(2014) and the

University of Law The University of Law (founded in 1962 as The College of Law of England and Wales) is a Private university, private Proprietary college, for-profit university in the United Kingdom, providing undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in law, busi ...

(2014). Rozenberg is also an honorary

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher c ...

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

, and is a non-executive board member of the

Law Commission A law commission, law reform commission, or law revision commission is an independent body set up by a government to conduct law reform; that is, to consider the state of laws in a jurisdiction and make recommendations or proposals for legal chang ...

. He has won the Bar Council's Legal Reporting Award four times. In January 2016, he was made an honorary

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(now known as King's Counsel; KC).

Publications

* *Joshua Rozenberg (24 April 1997). ''Trial of Strength'', Richard Cohen Books, . * *

Personal life

Rozenberg is married to journalist

Melanie Phillips Melanie Phillips (born 4 June 1951) is a British public commentator. She began her career writing for ''The Guardian'' and ''New Statesman''. During the 1990s, she came to identify with ideas more associated with right-wing politics and the far ...

; the couple have two children. He is Jewish.

Notes

References

External links

*
Joshua Rozenberg's Twitter account
*Columns for
The Critic
'
Rozenberg's blog
at ''

''
Law column
at '' Standpoint''
''Law Reports,'' the former column of Rozenberg
at the ''

Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was foun ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Rozenberg, Joshua People educated at Latymer Upper School Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists English Jews English male journalists English solicitors Living people 1950 births Honorary King's Counsel