Dinah Rose

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Dinah Rose

| honorific_suffix = KC

| image = DBT Magdalen College, Oxford & Stephen Schwarzman 19 March 2024-5 - 53600715712 (cropped 2).jpg

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| caption = Rose in 2024

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| office = President of Magdalen College, Oxford

| term_start = 1 September 2020

| term_end =

| predecessor = Sir David Clary

| successor =

| birth_name = Dinah Gwen Lison Rose

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|16 July 1965}}

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| nationality = British

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| education = City of London School for Girls

| alma_mater = Magdalen College, Oxford
City University

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| profession =Barrister

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Dinah Gwen Lison Rose KC (born 16 July 1965) is a British barrister. She has been President of Magdalen College, Oxford since 2020. A member of Blackstone Chambers, she was named Barrister of the Year in The Lawyer Awards 2009.{{cite web |url=http://blackstonechambers.com/people/barristers/dinah_rose_qc.html |title=Dinah Rose QC |publisher=Blackstone Chambers |access-date=24 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211042548/http://www.blackstonechambers.com/people/barristers/dinah_rose_qc.html |archive-date=11 February 2011 }} In 2016, she was appointed a Deputy Judge of the High Court.{{cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/announcements/section-94-deputy-high-court-judge-appointments/ |title=Section 9(4) Deputy High Court Judge appointments |publisher=Judicial Office UK |date=16 November 2016 |access-date=22 November 2016}}

Early life and education

Rose was born on 16 July 1965, and was educated at City of London School for Girls.{{cite web |title=Rose, Dinah Gwen Lison |url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-245404 |website=Who's Who 2020 |access-date=5 June 2020 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U245404 |date=1 December 2019|isbn=978-0-19-954088-4 }} She studied modern history at Magdalen College, Oxford, and law at City University.

Career

=Legal career=

She was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1989,{{cite news|title=High-flying women on new QCs list|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1524368/High-flying-women-on-new-QCs-list.html|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=20 July 2006|access-date = 4 February 2012}} and took silk in 2006. In a July 2009 interview with The Lawyer, she referred to Lord Lester QC as a mentor and described Lord Pannick QC as a huge influence.{{cite news|last=Dowell|first=Katy|title=Focus: Dinah Rose QC |url= http://www.thelawyer.com/focus-dinah-rose-qc/1001330.article| work = The Lawyer | location = London | date= 13 July 2009 | access-date = 4 February 2012 }}

==Notable cases==

She has appeared in many high-profile cases, including representing "extraordinary rendition" victim Binyam Mohamed at his Court of Appeal hearing.{{cite news| url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article5802122.ece | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612225124/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article5802122.ece | url-status=dead | archive-date=12 June 2011 | work=The Times | location=London | title=Lawyer of the Week Dinah Rose | first=Linda | last=Tsang | date=26 February 2009 |access-date=1 May 2010}}{{cite journal|last=Dowell|first=Katy|title=Dinah Rose QC apologises to court for handing Sumption letter to press|url= http://www.thelawyer.com/dinah-rose-qc-apologises-to-court-for-handing-sumption-letter-to-press/1003432.article| journal = The Lawyer | location = London | date= 11 February 2010|access-date = 4 February 2012}}

Rose worked on the judicial review of the Attorney General's decision to drop the investigation into alleged bribes of Saudi officials by BAE Systems.{{cite news |title=Dinah Rose blossoms into a super-lawyer |last=Krieger |first=Candice |date=9 July 2009 |newspaper=The Jewish Chronicle |location=London |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/people/dinah-rose-blossoms-into-a-super-lawyer-1.10274 |access-date = 10 June 2021}}

Rose represented the family of a child who had been denied a place at the prominent Jewish comprehensive school, JFS, because his mother was not recognised as Jewish by the Office of the Chief Rabbi. The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled that the denial of a place constituted unlawful race discrimination.{{Cite web |url=http://search3.openobjects.com/kb5/justice/uksc/decided.page |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130216144746/http://search3.openobjects.com/kb5/justice/uksc/decided.page?qt=jfs |url-status=dead |title=The Supreme Court – Decided Cases |archive-date=16 February 2013 |access-date=2 January 2013 }}

She appeared for Julian Assange in Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, in his unsuccessful appeal against extradition to Sweden.{{cite news |title=Assange appeals 'invalid' warrant at Supreme Court |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16822257|publisher=BBC News |location=London |date=1 February 2012 |access-date=4 February 2012}}{{cite news |last=Booth |first=Robert |title=Julian Assange extradition breaches legal principle, lawyer claims |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/feb/01/julian-assange-extradition |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |date=1 February 2012 |access-date=4 February 2012}}

It was announced in October 2012 that Rose had been appointed by the BBC to investigate its culture and policies in relation to sexual harassment and bullying, following the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal.Rance, Paul, [http://www.chambersstudent.co.uk/Articles/Newsletter/596 "Interview: Dinah Rose QC"], Chambers Student Guide 2012{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/dinah-rose-qc.html |title=BBC confirms Dinah Rose QC to look at sexual harassment claims and practices |orig-date=23 October 2012 |date=18 March 2014 |website=BBC Media Centre |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200127023855/https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/dinah-rose-qc.html |archive-date=27 January 2020}} Respect at Work, for which 930 employees were interviewed, was published at the beginning of May 2013. Rose and her team found 37 cases of alleged sexual harassment by 35 persons between April 2006 and November 2012, but said cases of bullying were much more common, and were often not properly investigated by BBC management.John Plunkett [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/may/02/bbc-bullies?INTCMP=SRCH "BBC bullies 'creating climate of anxiety and fear'"], The Guardian, 2 May 2013 Rose said in June that a "very troubling" atmosphere existed between staff and their superiors at the BBC.Maggie Brown [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jun/19/bbc-bullying-dinah-rose-qc "BBC bullying is 'very troubling', says top lawyer"], The Guardian, 19 June 2013

=Politics=

In March 2013, Rose ended her party membership of the Liberal Democrats in protest at Nick Clegg's support for the coalition government's justice and security bill describing it as a "betrayal of the party's guiding principles".Mark Townsend and Daniel Boffey [https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/mar/09/dinah-rose-quits-liberal-democrats "Dinah Rose quits Liberal Democrats in protest at secret courts"], The Observer, 9 March 2013

=Presidency at Magdalen College=

In February 2020, she was elected President of Magdalen College, Oxford, in succession to Sir David Clary: she is the first woman to hold the position.{{cite web|url=https://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/dinah-rose-qc-elected-next-president-of-magdalen-college/ |title=Magdalen College News |publisher=Magdalen College |date=28 February 2020 |access-date=28 February 2020}} She took up the post in September 2020, becoming the 43rd President of the college.{{cite web |title=A message from our new President |url=https://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/a-message-from-our-new-president/ |website=Magdalen College |publisher=University of Oxford |access-date=14 September 2020 |date=10 September 2020}}

==Cayman Islands case==

In January 2021, Rose was criticised by former Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and Oxford alumnus Edwin Cameron for acting for the Cayman Islands government in a case opposing the legalisation of same-sex marriage.{{cite web |last1=Childs |first1=Kevin |title=Oxford don accused of 'reinforcing violence against LGBTQ+ people' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/uk-news/oxford-don-dinah-rose-lgbt-cayman-b1794288.html |website=The Independent |access-date=30 January 2021}} This was followed by mixed reactions within the student body, academia and the legal industry.{{cite web |last1=Gearty |first1=Conor |title= The Case of Dinah Rose, Magdalen and the Bar |url=https://conorgearty.co.uk/2021/02/the-case-of-dinah-rose-magdalen-and-the-bar/ |website=Conor Gearty |access-date=14 March 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Rozenberg |first1=Joshua |title= Leading barrister refuses to be intimidated|url=https://rozenberg.substack.com/p/leading-barrister-refuses-to-be-intimidated?s=r |website=A Lawyer Writes|access-date=14 March 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Marcus |first1=Gilbert |title= Why Dinah Rose QC Had an Obligation to Give up the Homophobic Cayman Islands Brief: A Response to Lord Hendy QC|url=https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/why-dinah-rose-qc-had-an-obligation-to-give-up-the-cayman-islands-brief-a-response-to-lord-hendy-qc/ |website=Oxford Human Rights Hub Blog|access-date=14 March 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Slingo |first1=Jemma |title= Lawyers rally round top QC under fire for taking Cayman case |url=https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/lawyers-rally-round-top-qc-under-fire-for-taking-cayman-case-/5107225.article |website=Law Gazette |access-date=14 March 2022}}

Whilst Magdalen College's undergraduate body passed a motion affirming its support for her and rejecting calls for her to resign,{{cite web |last1=Bhutani |first1=Anvee |title=Magdalen JCR Passes Motion Over Dinah Rose Controversy |url=https://www.theoxfordblue.co.uk/2021/02/01/magdalen-jcr-passes-motion-over-dinah-rose-controversy/ |website=The Oxford Blue |date=February 2021 |access-date=8 February 2021}} the university-wide LGBTQ+ Society and African & Caribbean Society released statements condemning what they termed a conflict of interest between her role as president and her role as a barrister.{{cite web |last1=Society|first1=Oxford University African & Caribbean|title= Oxford ACS Statement on Dinah Rose QC |url=https://www.facebook.com/OxACS/posts/3984928848198211 |website=Oxford ACS Facebook Page |access-date=14 March 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Society |first1=Oxford LGBTQ+|title=Statement on Dinah Rose|url=https://www.facebook.com/OULGBTQ/posts/3719974728039277 |website=Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society Facebook Page |access-date=14 March 2022}}

In May 2023, The Times newspaper apologised to Rose and agreed to pay her damages and her legal costs in respect of an article in the newspaper which suggested that she had not had a professional obligation to take the case on behalf of the Cayman Islands government, under the cab-rank rule.{{cite web |last1=Siddique |first1=Haroon |title=The Times pays damages to lawyer over misleading article 16 May 2023 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2023/may/16/the-times-pays-damages-to-lawyer-dinah-rose-over-misleading-article |website=theguardian.com |publisher=Guardian |access-date=17 May 2023}}