Anthony Stephen Grabiner, Baron Grabiner, KC (born 21 March 1945) is a British

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

academic administrator Academic administration is a branch of university or college employees responsible for the maintenance and supervision of the institution and separate from the faculty or academics, although some personnel may have joint responsibilities. Some ...

, and

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

. Between 1994 and 2024, he was head of chambers at One Essex Court, a leading set of

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

barristers in the Temple, and continues to represent leading corporate and financial clients. From 2014 to 2021 he was the

Master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

and, since 2015, he has been the President of 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 ...

. Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, the holding company of

Arcadia Group Arcadia Group Ltd (formerly Arcadia Group plc and, until 1998, Burton Group plc) was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (B ...

from 2002 to December 2015. He was a non-executive director of Next plc in 2002, and a member of the Bank of England Financial Services Law Committee from 2002 to 2005. Grabiner was on the boards of Goldman Sachs International and Goldman Sachs International Bank from July 2015 to May 2021. In 1999, he was made a life peer as Baron Grabiner, and sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

on the Labour Party benches. In October 2015, he resigned the Labour

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

over the direction the party was taking under

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

. He now sits in the Lords as a crossbencher.

Early life

Grabiner was born on 21 March 1945 to Jewish parents, Ralph Grabiner and Freda Cohen. He was educated at the

Central Foundation Boys' School Central Foundation Boys' School is a voluntary aided school, voluntary-aided comprehensive secondary school in the London Borough of Islington. It was founded at a meeting in 1865 and opened the following year in Bath Street, before moving to it ...

. He studied at the

London School of Economics and Political Science The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public university, public research university in London, England, and a member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the University ...

, where he graduated with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(LLB) in 1966, and with a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(LLM) with distinction one year later. He was further educated in

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

, and was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in 1968.

Career

Grabiner is a commercial lawyer with a focus on commercial disputes in areas such as banking and finance, energy, oil and gas, civil fraud, competition and merger investigations, and shareholder disputes. He also sits as an arbitrator in domestic and international commercial arbitrations. From 1976 to 1981, Grabiner was Standing Junior Counsel to the

Department of Trade Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

and the

Export Credits Guarantee Department The Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD), branded as UK Export Finance (UKEF), is the export credit agency and a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. In 1920, UKEF had a maximum total exposure of just £26 mi ...

and Junior Counsel to the Crown from 1978 to 1981. Made a

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 ...

in 1981, he became a

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 ...

of Lincoln's Inn in 1989, and a Recorder of the

Crown Court The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...

between 1990 and 1999. Grabiner served as a Deputy High Court Judge from 1994 to 2004. Grabiner has acted for a wide range of clients such as state institutions, international banks and corporations. Clients have included the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury or HMT), and informally referred to as the Treasury, is the Government of the United Kingdom’s economic and finance ministry. The Treasury is responsible for public spending, financial services policy, Tax ...

, Terra Firma, Apple Computer INC.,

News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...

, Cable and Wireless PLC,

JP Morgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. (stylized as JPMorganChase) is an American multinational finance corporation headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. It is the largest bank in the United States, and the world's largest bank by mark ...

, the Society of Lloyd's and Carlton Communications Plc. Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, the holding company of Arcadia Group from 2002 to December 2015. He was a non-executive director of

Next plc Next plc, trading as Next (styled as NEXT) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, Leicestershire, Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of ...

in 2002, and a member of the

Financial Services Law Committee from 2002 to 2005. In October 2010, Grabiner represented

Liverpool Football Club Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

in the London High Court and won two cases against its then owners. In July 2011, Grabiner was appointed by

as chairman of the management and standards committee established by the company in the wake of the

News International phone hacking scandal Beginning in the 1990s, and going as far until its shutdown in 2011, employees of the now-defunct newspaper ''News of the World'' engaged in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories. Investi ...

. It was subsequently reported in ''

The Lawyer ''The Lawyer'' is a legal business information product for law firm leaders, commercial lawyers, barristers A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advoc ...

'' magazine that Grabiner would be receiving a fee of £3,000 an hour for his advice to News Corporation. In 2019 Grabiner acted for the Post Office in a procedural application during the group litigation brought by 555 sub-postmasters. He argued that the trial judge in the group litigation should

recuse Recusal is the legal process by which a judge, juror, or other adjudicator steps aside from participating in a case due to potential bias, conflict of interest, or appearance of impropriety. This practice is fundamental to ensuring fairness and ...

(dismiss) himself due to concerns of apparent bias. The application was based on the assertion that conclusions reached by the judge in the first of three trials could influence his impartiality in the subsequent trials.

Academic career

Grabiner was chair of the governors of the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

from 1998 until 2007. In December 2013, it was announced that he had been elected Master of Clare College, Cambridge University, to succeed Professor Tony Badger in October 2014. In August 2015, Grabiner was appointed as the President of the

Political career

On 26 July 1999, Grabiner was created a

with the title Baron Grabiner, of

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the List of areas of London, area immediately surrounding it, in the City of Westminster, part of Greater London, and is part of the West End of London, West End West End Theatre, Theatreland. T ...

in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a London borough with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Greater London, England. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It contains a large par ...

. From 1999 to 2015, he sat in the

on the Labour Party benches. On 24 October 2015, he announced that he had resigned the Labour

but would remain a party member. He was the second Labour peer to resign the whip over the views of the new party leader,

. Grabiner explained his resignation to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'': "I have nothing in common whatever with Mr Corbyn — and I don't believe we are ever going to win an election." He has sat in the Lords as a cross-bench member since 2016.

Taveta Investments

Grabiner was non-executive chairman of Taveta Investments Ltd, the holding company of Sir Philip Green behind

from 2002 to December 2015. In July 2016, Grabiner was denounced in an official report by Members of Parliament in relationship to his chairmanship of Taveta, for having a "remarkably docile attitude" and representing the "apogee of weak corporate governance". Furthermore, MPs stated that "He was content to provide a veneer of establishment credibility to the group while happily disengaging from the key decisions he had a responsibility to scrutinise. For this deplorable performance he received a considerable salary". A later report by Lord Pannick QC and Michael Todd QC, exonerated Lord Grabiner and criticised the parliamentary committees, concluding the finding to be "insupportable". In particular, the QC's criticised the parliamentary committees for showing little understanding of the relevant company law in drafting the report.

Personal life

Since 1983, Grabiner has been married to Jane Portnoy. They have three sons and one daughter.

Marylebone Cricket Club

Grabiner is a member of the

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

. He was a member of the club's development committee from which, along with

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British retired politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. Following his defeat to Ton ...

, he resigned in protest over the club's failure to properly present members with a development "masterplan" in 2012.

Surrey County Cricket Club

Lord Grabiner is a long-standing member of

Surrey CCC Surrey County Cricket Club (Surrey CCC) is a first-class club in county cricket, one of eighteen in the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Surrey, including areas that now form South London ...

. He sat on the Surrey CCC Management Board between 2011 and 2021, and currently serves as President of the Club.

Other sources

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grabiner, Anthony 1945 births Living people People educated at Central Foundation Boys' School Alumni of the London School of Economics English Jews Labour Party (UK) life peers Members of Lincoln's Inn Masters of Clare College, Cambridge Honorary Fellows of the London School of Economics Crossbench life peers Jewish British politicians Life peers created by Elizabeth II English barristers Presidents of Surrey County Cricket Club