Martha Spurrier (born 1986) is a British barrister and human rights campaigner. She was the director of the advocacy group

Liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

from 2016 to 2024.

Early life

Spurrier was educated at

Godolphin and Latymer School The Godolphin and Latymer School is a private day school for girls in Hammersmith, West London. The school motto is an ancient Cornish phrase, ''Francha Leale Toge'', which translates as "free and loyal art thou". The school crest includes a ...

in London, and then at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, where she graduated with a

BA (Hons) A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in history. She took a law conversion course at

City University London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" and ...

, and then the bar professional training course at

BPP University BPP University is a Private university#United Kingdom, private university in the United Kingdom. Running courses in law, accountancy, business, nursing, and technology, the for-profit institution is currently a part of BPP Holdings, BPP Educ ...

Career

Before joining Liberty from June 2016, Spurrier worked as a barrister at

Doughty Street Chambers Doughty Street Chambers is a British set of barristers' chambers situated in Bristol, Manchester and London's Doughty Street, undertaking criminal justice, public law, immigration, employment, human rights and civil liberties work. Doughty Str ...

, of which she remains an associate tenant. She is the author of ''Freedom to Write: A User's Guide'' (

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associa ...

, 2012). In 2015, she was one of the three joint founders of the "Act for the Act" campaign (with

Caoilfhionn Gallagher Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC is an Irish-born barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, specialising in human rights and civil liberties. Life Gallagher studied at University College Dublin and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor's degree in Civ ...

and Fiona Bawdon), a

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financial ...

advertising campaign to tell positive stories about 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 ...

. She took up her post at Liberty at the end of May 2016, taking over from

Shami Chakrabarti Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti (born 16 June 1969) is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil l ...

. She was replaced as director by Akiko Hart in January 2024. In July 2018, Spurrier was awarded the "Hero Award" at the 20th Annual ISPA Awards by the ISPA Council for challenging the Investigatory Powers Act in the High Court.

Personal life

She is married to fellow barrister Jesse Nicholls.

References

Footnotes

External links

Martha Spurrier
on Liberty's official website
Martha Spurrier
at ''

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 ...

''
"'Human Rights and Access to Justice in a Post-Brexit World': Martha Spurrier (Liberty)"
Cambridge Pro Bono Project, 15 November 2017.
"Q&A with Liberty's Martha Spurrier"
Luminate, 21 April 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Spurrier, Martha 1986 births Living people Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge British human rights activists English barristers 21st-century English women lawyers 21st-century English lawyers National Council for Civil Liberties people People educated at Godolphin and Latymer School British women human rights activists