About Geoffrey Robertson
Geoffrey Robertson AO QC is a barrister, author and one-time host of Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals on the ABC. He is founder and head of Doughty Street Chambers; now the largest human rights practice in Europe; where he has been mentor to Amal Clooney, Jen Robinson, Keir Starmer and others.
Robertson was born and bred in Sydney. A Rhodes scholarship took him to England where he is now based, and he holds dual citizenship. He is a Master of the Middle Temple and a visiting professor at the New College of Humanities. His autobiography, Rather His Own Man – In Courts with Tyrants, Tarts and Troublemakers was published by Penguin/Random House in 2018.
From his outspoken leadership of students in the ‘60s to his work fighting for the lives of death row inmates, GR’s career has been marked by courage, determination and fierce independence. He was involved in the prosecution of General Pinochet and Hastings Banda and in the defence of Salman Rushdie, Mike Tyson, Julian Assange and Lula (former president of Brazil). Among much else, he secured Yulia Tymoshenko’s release from prison in Ukraine, exposed the Medellin Cartel’s gun-running in the Caribbean and helped restore democracy in Fiji. He is credited with changing the way we think about human rights, notably through his book Crimes Against Humanity.