Honorary graduates

Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC2010

The Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC – A barrister of international renown and a legal and constitutional reformer

Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (HonLDD) in recognition of his outstanding contribution to legal and public service, and to constitutional reform.

Lord Falconer’s career includes more than 25 years as a commercial barrister and a decade as a member of the UK government. He is Senior Counsel with the international legal firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He served in the Blair government from 1997 to 2007. As Lord Chancellor and Secretary for Constitutional Affairs, he led moves to bring about historic changes in the administration of justice. As a result, he took up the new post of Secretary of State for Justice, bringing together courts, prisons and justice policy for the first time.

Charles Falconer was educated at Edinburgh Academy, Trinity College, Glenalmond and Queens' College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar (Inner Temple) in 1974 and became a Queen’s Counsel in 1991. After the 1997 general election, he was awarded a life peerage on being made Solicitor General. He and his wife, also a barrister, have a home in Nottinghamshire.