Doughty Street Chambers

Today, we are honoured to welcome Cillian Gallagher to Desert Island Dress.

Cillian is a barrister and has worked in London at the renowned Doughty Street Chambers for over 20 years, alongside similarly excellent human rights barristers such as Amal Clooney, fighting for justice, particularly for those who do not have the voice or reach to advocate for themselves.

Even after talking with Cillian for just an hour, we came away humbled by what was on our own plates as she casually shared just some of the items on her calendar for that week alone.

She is a force of nature, so articulate, insightful and hugely knowledgeable while also being incredibly self-aware and introspective.

But there's definitely something about that.

I should say about on the barrister uniform issue, there's a very brilliant woman.

who's from East London, so kind of equivalent of a Northsider in London, called Carlia, who was my colleague for many years in the chambers that I was in until recently in London, Doughty Street Chambers.

And Carlia is remarkable.

Jen Robinson is one of Australia's most famous human rights and media lawyers.

She's a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, a Rhodes Scholar, and has advised some of the biggest media organizations in the world, and has spent her career fighting for freedom of speech and the rights of journalists and women to tell their stories.

She's also been a part of Julian Assange's legal team.

She worked with The New York Times during its investigation into the Murdoch phone-hacking scandal.

He would later go on to co-write the first book on media law, a text which is still used by student lawyers and journalists today.

His co-author was fellow KC Geoffrey Robertson, with whom Andrew Nicol also founded the internationally renowned Doughty Street Chambers.

They worked together on a series of precedent-setting cases, including one where they defended journalists from the New Statesman who were held in contempt of court for interviewing jurors in the infamous trial of Jeremy Thorpe, the MP charged with conspiring to murder his former male lover.

I have always maintained that I was innocent of the charges brought against me and the verdict of the jury... after a prolonged and careful investigation by them, I regard as totally fair, just and a complete vindication.

How would you sum up Sir Andrew Nicholl's legacy to British law?

Well, he's there as a barrister helping to create the doctrine of media law.

And indeed, at Doughty Street Chambers, he was a founder in 1990. and went on eventually to produce Keir Starmer and Richard Hermer and David Lammy and others.

And as a judge, he gave many judgments where he elucidated the laws in ways favorable to free speech, and so far as he could.