Anthony Julius

Anthony Julius (born 1956) is a prominent British lawyer and academic, best known for his actions on behalf of Diana, Princess of Wales and Deborah Lipstadt. He is a senior consultant for the London law firm Mishcon de Reya.

Julius is known for his opposition to new antisemitism, the expression of antisemitic prejudice couched in terms of criticism of Israel, and gives frequent talks on the subject all over the world to raise awareness. [For example, see Kuruvila, Matthai Chakko. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/01/27/MNG9DNQ8TC1.DTL "Bay Area debate flares over 'new anti-Semitism'"] , "San Francisco Chronicle", January 27, 2007.] He is a founding member of both Engage and the Euston Manifesto.

Life

The son of a successful London textile merchant, he was educated at the City of London School. His father died young of a brain tumour. Julius studied English literature at Jesus College, Cambridge graduating in 1977 with a first class degree and completed a Ph.D. in English literature at University College London under the novelist and academic Dan Jacobson. He joined Mishcon de Reya, a Bloomsbury law firm in 1981 becoming a partner in 1984. Currently he is a senior consultant to that firm.

He married in 1979 and had four children with his first wife (Max, Laura, Chloë and Theo). In 1999, following his divorce, he married journalist Dina Rabinovitch who died on 30 October 2007. They have one son together.

Activities

He was selected by Princess Diana as her legal representative in her divorce from Prince Charles.

He represented Deborah Lipstadt, successfully defending her, with Richard Rampton QC, against a libel suit brought against her by Holocaust denier David Irving.

Julius is a commercial litigator. He is a specialist in the fields of defamation, international trade disputes, and media law. He recently became a solicitor-advocate, which allows him to act as a barrister in so far as he can now appear in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.

He has written a number of books on various topics, including his PhD thesis which discussed the anti-semitism of T. S. Eliot. He has been a part-time lecturer at the Law Faculty of University College London. He is Vice-President of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, and was one of the charity's founders and its first Chairman. He is Chairman of the London Consortium and a Visiting Professor at Birkbeck, University of London.

Julius has promised to defend individuals and institutions affected by the most recent proposed academic boycott of Israeli universities. Writing in the Guardian, in an article co-authored with historian Simon Schama, Julius compared the academic boycott to policies adopted by Nazi Germany, noting “This is not the first boycott call directed at Jews. On April 1, 1933, a week after he came to power, Hitler ordered a boycott of Jewish shops, banks, offices and department stores.” [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/dec/22/bergerboycott John Berger is wrong] , Simon Schama and Anthony Julius, The Guardian, 22 December 2006] He considers the proposition unfair for singling out Israel as "uniquely evil" among nations, and said he would be delighted to act to protect those who, for example, face contractual difficulties as a result of any boycott. [ [http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2097576,00.html Diana lawyer vows to fight Israeli academic boycott] , The Guardian, 7 June 2007]

In 2008, Julius was critical of a signed statement by Independent Jewish Voices, a liberal group, for Israel to lift its economic blockade of the Gaza. Julius said "It is by no means unarguable that Israel is right to treat Gaza as an enemy territory. It is hard to see on what basis Israel's actions can be seen as a violation and only one or two of the signatories could grapple with issues involved." [ [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/950381.html British Jewish group sparks outrage with Gaza blockade criticism] , Haaretz, 2 February 2008]

He has taken the view that "Zionism is the solution to Jewish powerlessness; Israel is the guarantor of the Jews’ safety." [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/books/review/Julius-t.html?_r=1&ex=1190260800&en=729107044c54deaa&ei=5070&oref=slogin A People and a Nation] , Anthony Julius, New York Times, 2 September 2007]

elected publications

*"TS Eliot, Anti-Semitism and Literary Form" (1st edition - CUP 1995, 2nd edition Thames Hudson 2003) based on his PhD thesis
*"Idolising Pictures" (Thames Hudson 2000).
*"Transgressions: The Offences of Art" (Thames Hudson 2002).
*"Art Crimes", in Law and Literature" (Oxford University Press, 1999) and in *"Art, Copyright and Culture", Dear Images, (Ridinghouse, 2003).

Notes

Further reading

* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,6121,97037,00.html "The hollow man"] "Guardian" review of Julius's book on Eliot
* [http://www.londonconsortium.com/about/faculty.htm Appointment as chair of the London Consortium] .
* [http://www.engageonline.org.uk "Engage"]
* [http://eustonmanifesto.org "The Euston Manifesto"]
* [http://www.events.org/ADLSF01/viewevent.aspx?id=7942 "'Finding Our Voice' Conference"]