Benedict Birnberg, the trailblazing civil rights lawyer who defended anti-Apartheid politicians and Black civil rights activists, long before it was fashionable, has died aged 93.
Considered one of the greatest lawyers of his era, Birnberg represented an electric procession of clients, ranging from the family of the unfairly executed Derek Bentley to gay artist David Hockney.
Believing access to justice was a human right, along with healthcare and education, he even represented Moors Murderer Ian Brady.
Ultimately, he inspired the nation with his tireless pursuit of progressive justice, conducted from his law firm’s office on Borough High Street.
Following his passing, politicians, colleagues and family have paid tribute to the great man, who was “gentle”, “fearless” and “understated” in equal measure.
Benedict Birnberg was born on September 8, 1930, in Stepney, east London, to maths teacher Jonas Birnberg and school leader Naomi Birnberg.
His mother founded the Carmel Court school in Kent, notable for taking Jewish refugee children who’d escaped Nazi Germany. Ever the eccentric, she would read them Mein Kampf “to better know the enemy”.
But former students would say how much they benefitted from her methods, and she seemingly embued her son with the compassionate, progressive values that would characterise his career.
Birnberg studied History at Cambridge University. His daughter Ariadne says he didn’t discuss his collegiate years very often. But black-and-white photos of a smiling Birnberg, looking “a bit like Buddy Holly”, suggest he enjoyed his time there.
Following university, he completed a year’s National Service. In charge of ordering food for the troops, he put his colleagues on a strict ethical vegetarian diet, much to their dismay.
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Nephew of the famous British barrister and Attorney General of Mandatory Palestine Norman Bentwich, Birnberg always said law was “in the family” and started working as a solicitor in London in the late 1950s.
But he said he “hated it” and decided to set up his own company operating from “cramped offices” in Borough High Street.
Over the next thirty years, Birnberg would establish himself as the UK’s pre-eminent civil rights lawyer.
One of his most high-profile clients was Iris Bentley whose brother Derek Bentley was hanged in 1953 after his accomplice murdered a policeman.
Thirty-five years after the execution, Birnberg’s legal team proved that Derek’s trial had been unfair and that the judge had misdirected the jury, ensuring Derek’s murder conviction was quashed.
Tragically, Iris died of cancer a year before the Court of Appeal’s verdict. But she always had a special place in Birnberg’s heart.
His daughter Ariadne said: “Their family’s fight struck a chord with him. I can’t tell you just how much he admired Iris in particular.”
Despite being constantly inundated with work, Birnberg would always instruct his team to “never keep Iris waiting”.
Derek Bentley’s case captured the national imagination but it was one of many.
Birnberg represented exiled ANC politicians who were fighting against the Apartheid government of South Africa.
In 1970, he helped secure acquittals on the most serious charges for the Mangrove Nine, the Black British activists accused of inciting a riot against police in Notting Hill. It resulted in the first-ever judicial acknowledgment of racial hatred within the Met Police.
There were also defences of artist David Hockney when he was found carrying homosexual magazines through Heathrow in 1968 and even Moors Murderer Ian Brady.
Birnberg would later describe the latter, who he ensured was housed in a psychiatric facility, as one of his more “unfashionable clients”.
While that case may have been less popular with the British public, Birnberg’s willingness to take it on was a symptom of his personal philosophy, that “access to justice is as vital as health or education”.
Former lawyer and MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark Sir Simon Hughes worked on the Derek Bentley case with Birnberg and often referred constituents to his office.
He said: “Ben was a man of almost limitless determination, energy and resolve and used his intellect, skill and unwavering commitment to justice successfully to challenge established British views throughout his long life. To his family, I add my warmest appreciation for all Ben did for so many for so long.”
Birnberg also helped with the Save the Borough Market Area Campaign which was set up by local residents in the 1990s to fight plans to drive a new railway viaduct straight through the Borough High Street Conservation Area.
They were unsuccessful in their efforts. But Jackie Power, member of the Save the Borough High Street/Market Area Campaign, said: “I believe if it were not for Ben’s help we would have seen far less care during the several years of construction and more buildings demolished.”
Birnberg would become famous for his kooky, sometimes dishevelled appearance, but it was belied by a “steely strength,” his daughter says.
She said: “He was a hugely tenacious individual even if you wouldn’t know it straight away because one of his main attributes was his gentleness. He was quite mild-mannered but with a steely core.”
His former colleague Paul Boateng described him as an “unlikely colossus” with “a passion for justice that has caused him to tower over his contemporaries for more than four decades”.
While many who enjoy such glittering careers are narrowly obsessed with their craft, Birnberg always had time for his family and the pursuit of hobbies.
Ariadne, his only child, said: “He was lovely. He was very encouraging and very supportive, always quite eccentric and very playful.”
That playfulness could manifest in any number of ways. A lover of poetry, his family were used to his impromptu renditions of Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll.
He never tired of hearing Ariadne play Mozart sonatas to him on the piano and loved walking. He even took his family on an ambitious, ultimately doomed hike up 451-metre-high Cat Bells despite being 88-years-old.
“He had ambition to the point of sacrifice,” Ariadne laughed.
Birnberg passed away from pneumonia in King’s College Hospital on October 13, 2023. He is survived by his wife Felitsa, daughter Ariadne and grandsons Jonas and Theo.
