Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights (LPHR) is a lawyer-based legal charity in the UK (Charity Number: 1175498) that implements key legal projects to protect and promote Palestinian human rights.
LPHR’s principal charitable objective is to positively transform the major human rights crisis impacting Palestinians. We seek to contribute to achieving this vital aim by working on legal projects specifically focused on meaningfully advancing Palestinian human rights.
LPHR is firmly dedicated through our work and ethos to upholding international law, pursuing justice, and honouring the dignity of the Palestinian people.
LPHR pursues its goals through the following distinct components:
- High quality and free legal work, support and advice;
- Specialist monitoring, analysis and assessment of actual and potential violations;
- Legal and human rights submissions to relevant investigatory and accountability mechanisms;
- Considered policy engagement from a legal and human rights perspective with the UK government, parliamentarians, UN Special Rapporteurs, and UN officials;
- Legal and human rights public education (includes engaging law students at law schools and universities in London through the LPHR Student Network).
LPHR actively works with Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations, and has strong working relationships with a number of UK charities. We are a legal resource member of the Working Group on Israel/Palestine and the Palestinians (coordinated by EuroMed Rights).
LPHR was initially set-up as a small volunteer group in London by UK-based practising lawyers and law students. It obtained UK charitable status in 2012, and appointed its first Director to lead the new legal charity in January 2013.
Tareq Shrourou – Director and Principal Lawyer
Tareq is Director and Principal Lawyer of LPHR. Prior he was a practising human rights solicitor and led the public legal advice service at the prominent human rights organisation, Liberty.
Tareq leads on LPHR’s legal work, policy positioning, government and parliamentary engagement, education activities and outreach. He supervises and works with LPHR’s Executive Committee who provide outstanding voluntary support. He devises and implements LPHR’s strategy with the oversight of its expert Board of Trustees and has responsibility for LPHR’s profile and impact.
Before becoming LPHR’s first Director in 2013, Tareq worked as a human rights solicitor representing asylum claimants, unaccompanied children and survivors of human trafficking. In this position he was specifically referred serious and complex cases from two prominent UK human rights organisations, Freedom from Torture and Liberty. He represented the Pakistan test-match cricketer, Zulqarnain Haider, in a high profile asylum claim.
Prior to being a practising solicitor, Tareq co-supervised the free legal advice service at Liberty which helps hundreds of individuals each year, after completing his legal training at a leading civil liberties law firm in London.
Tareq holds an LLB law degree from SOAS, University of London, an LLM in Public International Law from King’s College London, University of London, and completed the LPC with a distinction. He is mixed heritage, with an English mother and Palestinian father.
LPHR Trustees
- Michael Lynk – Emeritus Professor of Law at Western University, Canada. In March 2016, he was appointed to serve as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967. During his six-year-term as Special Rapporteur, he regularly addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and the 3rd Committee of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. His UN reports have been widely cited. Michael joined LPHR’s Board of Trustees in January 2023.
- Fiona McKay – International lawyer and human rights practitioner with vast experience in international criminal justice. Fiona led the establishment of the first victim participation programme in an international criminal tribunal – as Chief of the Victim Participation and Reparations Section in the Registry of the International Criminal Court – and was a Senior Managing Legal Officer at the Open Society Justice Initiative.
- Sir Geoffrey Bindman KC – Founder of the UK law firm, Bindmans LLP.
- Tessa Gregory – Partner at the UK law firm, Leigh Day. Tessa is described by the Legal 500 as “a stand-out public lawyer who brings tenacity, intelligence and a wealth of experience to her cases.”
- Nusrat Uddin – Partner at the UK law firm, Wilsons. Nusrat was highly commended in the 2019 Law Society Excellence Awards as Human Rights Lawyer of the Year, and is ranked in both the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.
- Bill Bowring – Professor of Law at Birkbeck College, University of London.
- Geraldine Isherwood – Experienced finance director and manager.
- Jocelyn Hurndall – Former executive director of an education charity.
LPHR Executive Committee (2022-2023)
- Natalie Sedacca (joined 2013) – Assistant Professor in Employment Law at the University of Durham, researching labour law and human rights. Formerly Lecturer in Law at Exeter University and Teaching Fellow at University College London (UCL) and Queen Mary University of London. Natalie holds an an LLM in Transnational Law (Distinction) from King’s College London and a PhD from UCL. Before entering academia, Natalie spent nine years in legal practice, including seven as a qualified solicitor, specialising in claims against the police and public authorities.
- Alicia Mendonca-Richards (joined 2013) – Practising Solicitor and holds an LLM in Public International Law (Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Alicia is recognised in the Legal 500 as a ‘Rising Star’.
- Aleisha Ebrahimi (joined 2013) – In October 2022, Aleisha was appointed as Senior Policy Advisor to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales. Aleisha is a Family Law Associate Lecturer (Teaching) at UCL’s Faculty of Laws and a Lecturer at Sciences Po in Paris where she is convenor for her module ‘Gender and International Human Rights Law’. Aleisha holds an LLM in Transnational Law (Distinction) from King’s College London and was called to the Bar as a Lord Lowry scholar.
- Dearbhla Katharine Minogue (joined 2014) – Legal officer at the Global Legal Action Network working on Yemen, modern slavery, and corporate supply chain and accountability actions. Dearbhla is also a consultant solicitor at Bindmans LLP.
- Angelina Nicolaou (joined 2015) – Barrister at One Pump Court Chambers practising in immigration, inquest/inquiries and crime/prisons law. Angelina holds an LLM in International Crime and Justice (Distinction) from the United Nations Interregional Crime & Justice Research Institute. Angelina is recognised in the Legal 500 as a ‘Rising Star’.
- Alamara Khwaja Bettum (joined 2017) – Joint Head of UK Legal at the child refugee charity, Safe Passage. Prior to completing her LLB law degree (First Class) from the University of London, Alamara worked for three years in Kurdistan, Northern Iraq, on protection projects for refugees and internally displaced people.
- Emma Fullerton (joined 2017) – Parliamentary assistant to a Member of Parliament. Emma completed the Bar Professional Training Course at BPP University Law School.
- Shahd Hammouri (joined 2018) – Lecturer in Law at Kent University and a PhD Candidate in corporate involvement in armed conflict at the Manchester International Law Centre. Shahd obtained her Masters Degree in International Economic Law at Sciences Po, Paris.
- Anastasia O’Brien (joined 2019) – Public law and human rights barrister at the UK Government Legal Department.
- Edita Maric (joined 2021) – Legal Associate and holds an LLM in International Law (Distinction) from University College London.
- Peter Malynn (joined 2021) – Senior policy official in the UK Civil Service. Peter previously worked for a Member of Parliament, with a focus on international development and coordinating the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group.
- Margherita Parodi (joined 2021) – Collective Action Coordinator at the Ethical Trading Initiative. Margherita holds a first class degree from the University of Bristol in Politics and International Relations and an MSc from LSE in Human Rights, the latter including a particular focus on business and human rights.
- Lucy McCann (joined 2021) – Barrister in public and medical law after completing pupilage in 2022. Prior to commencing pupillage, Lucy edited OUP’s practitioner text, Judicial Review: Principles and Procedure (2nd ed forthcoming) and was a visiting lecturer in public law at City Law School. Lucy has prior worked as a research associate for the UN Development Programme in East Jerusalem, and volunteered as a teacher in educational partnerships and refugee camps in Nablus.
- Agnese Valenti (joined 2021) – Lawyer admitted to the Bar in Italy. Agnese holds a law degree from the University of Milan. After her graduation, she had a traineeship at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and worked at the Prosecution Division of the International Criminal Court.