Anthony Robert Julius (born 16 July 1956) is a Britishsolicitor advocate known for beingDiana, Princess of Wales' divorce lawyer[1] and for representingDeborah Lipstadt.[2] He is the deputy chairman at the law firmMishcon de Reya[1] and honorary solicitor to the Foundation for Jewish Heritage.
He holds the chair in Law and Arts in the Faculty of Laws at University College London[3] and teaches courses onShakespeare,Kant, andWilliam Empson. He is also a visiting professor at theUniversity of Haifa.[4]
The son of aLondon menswear retailer who died young from abrain tumour, Julius was educated at theCity of London School. He studiedEnglish literature atJesus College, Cambridge, graduating in 1977 with afirst class degree; in the mid-1990s he completed aPhD in English literature atUniversity College London under the novelist and academicDan Jacobson. He joined theBloomsbury law firmMishcon de Reya in 1979, becoming a partner in 1984. Currently, he is deputy chairman of the firm.[5]
Julius is a commerciallitigator. He is a specialist in the fields ofdefamation,international trade disputes, andmedia law. He has been asolicitor advocate since at least 2001,[6] which allows him to act as abarrister in so far as he can now appear in theHigh Court and theCourt of Appeal.[citation needed]
He was selected by Diana, Princess of Wales, as her legal representative when she divorcedCharles, Prince of Wales, in 1996. He was vice-president of theDiana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, until it closed in 2012. He was one of the charity's founding trustees and its first chairman until 1999.[7]
He representedDeborah Lipstadt, successfully defending her inIrving v Penguin Books and Lipstadt, withRichard RamptonQC, against alibel suit brought against her by theHolocaust denierDavid Irving. Lipstadt and her publishers were vindicated by the judge's ruling in April 2000.[8] A feature film about the case,Denial, withAndrew Scott playing Julius, was released in 2016.[9]
Julius is legal advisor to the Foundation of Jewish Heritage.[10]
Julius is an advisory editor at the current affairs journalFathom.[11] He was a founding member of both Engage and theEuston Manifesto. From 2011 to 2014 he was chairman of the board ofThe Jewish Chronicle.[12]
From 1996 to 1998 he was a part-time lecturer at the Law Faculty ofUniversity College London. In 2017 he rejoined University College London as the inaugural chair in Law and the Arts.[3] He was previously chairman of theLondon Consortium and visiting professor atBirkbeck, University of London.
He serves as trustee toEnglish PEN, the founding centre of a worldwide writers' association.[13] Julius is also chairman of the trustees of Phenomen Trust.
Between 2007 and 2013, Julius played an active role in the campaign against theacademic boycott of Israeli universities. In aGuardian article co-authored with historianSimon Schama, Julius wrote "This is not the first boycott call directed at Jews. On 1 April 1933, a week after he came to power, Hitler ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores."[14]
Julius's other activities in this context included representing Ronnie Fraser in an action against theUniversity and College Union (UCU). Fraser, who was a member of the union, complained that it had created an "intimidating", "hostile", "humiliating", and "offensive" environment for Jews.[15] After a 20-day hearing the tribunal rejected his claim, harshly rebuking Julius for "misusing the legal process". Scorn is also invoked for Julius's decision to pursue certain points, with complaints variously dismissed as "palpably groundless", "obviously hopeless" and "devoid of any merit".[16][1] The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America(CAMERA), criticized the rejection.[17][18]
He married Judith Bernie in 1979; the couple had four children, but later divorced. In 1999, he marriedDina Rabinovitch and had one child with her. Rabinovitch died in 2007 from breast cancer. In 2009, he married Katarina Lester, and is step-father to her two children. They had a son together in 2011.[19]
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