Pro-Israel lawyers face complaint over legal intimidation of Palestine activists

Three senior barristers – including two members of the House of Lords – have been reported to their professional regulator for allowing their names and titles to be used as part of an alleged “pattern of legal intimidation” against opponents of Israel’s genocide.

Baron David Pannick KC, Baron Anthony Grabiner KC, and Stephen Hockman KC are named in a Bar Standards Board (BSB) complaint submitted by two legal organizations, which accuses them of using their professional seniority to intimidate Palestine activists. 

Pro-Israel lobby group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) uses top barristers’ heavyweight legal titles on its letters that target British institutions, businesses, and private individuals over perceived anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian speech and advocacy.

The complaint – brought by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC) on 20 May – argues that repeated references to the three senior barristers’ professional status in UKLFI letters may have “amplified the authority and perceived seriousness of legal threats and allegations”. 

It added that the letters were directed at individuals and organizations engaged in protected expression, namely “lawful advocacy, cultural work, education, and public expression relating to Palestine”. 

The complaint argues that this dynamic can be deeply intimidating and serve to increase pressure on recipients – often individuals, grassroots campaigns and small charities without legal expertise who are then expected to respond to complex legal claims.

Pannick, who advised former prime minister Boris Johnson over the Partygate scandal, and Grabiner, a former master of Clare College, Cambridge, are members of the House of Lords. 

UKLFI calls itself “an association of lawyers who support Israel using their legal skills” and aims to “support Israel, Israeli organizations, Israelis, and/or supporters of Israel against BDS and other attempts to undermine, attack or delegitimize them”. Its work largely involves targeting expressions of support for Palestinians by sending legal complaints to public institutions, businesses, and private citizens. 

The PILC told Novara Media that UKLFI’s work is “a prime example of lawfare”, while an ELSC spokesperson said the complaint “points to a pattern of legal intimidation through the use of senior legal status in correspondence targeting individuals and organizations engaged in Palestine advocacy”.

UKLFI successfully lobbied an NHS trust to ban staff from wearing symbols of support for Palestine, Novara Media revealed last year. The lobby group has also targeted local councils, art galleries, a community kite-making workshop, a hobby company specializing in model trains, the Post Office, Selfridges, various universities, and exam paper publisher Pearson. 

In February 2023, Chelsea and Westminster hospital took down a display of Palestinian children’s artwork after UKLFI sent a letter claiming it made Jewish patients feel “vulnerable, harassed and victimized”.

The ELSC and PILC – on behalf of a cross-sector coalition that includes teachers, NGOs, healthcare professionals, migrants’ rights organizations, and student unions – are asking the regulator to determine whether the three barristers’ use of professional status breaches the Bar Standards Board Code of Conduct. The code includes duties of integrity and independence, and the requirement to maintain public confidence in the profession. 

A PILC spokesperson told Novara Media: “The power imbalance that this tactic relies on is amplified by the foregrounding of the names of established senior barristers in UKLFI’s legal correspondence. Our complaint asks the BSB to urgently consider possible alarming breaches of professional standards by three highly reputable lawyers.”

The complaint has been endorsed by UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who posted on X: “May this action inspire others to do the same. Pro-apartheid lawyers misusing/abusing their professional status in order to shield Israel from scrutiny must face accountability.”

The BSB, which regulates barristers in England and Wales, is a public interest regulator and responsible for maintaining the standards of the profession through regulation, discipline, and guidance. A complaint to the BSB has the potential to be very serious. It may result in the regulator taking action that includes investigation and disciplinary proceedings. In very serious cases, this can lead to suspension, disbarment, or disqualification. 

The PILC said the BSB will undertake an initial assessment of their complaint. 

Last year, the ELSC and PILC submitted a 114-page report to the Solicitors Regulation Authority alleging potential breaches of professional standards, including Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (Slapps). Slapps are a misuse of the legal system by bringing claims that are unmeritorious or characterized by abusive tactics to stifle scrutiny and publication. 

An ELSC spokesperson said: “These mechanisms are deliberate attempts to erase Palestinians from the public consciousness. This narrows democratic space, threatens freedom of expression and must be examined by the regulator to protect public confidence in the legal profession.”

UKLFI appears 128 times in the ELSC’s Index of Repression, a database that records attempts to stifle solidarity with the Palestinian people in the UK. 

Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians in Gaza – including 21,000 children – and injured at least 172,000. 

Baron David Pannick KC, Baron Anthony Grabiner KC, Stephen Hockman KC, and UK Lawyers for Israel have been approached for comment.