David Anderson, Baron Anderson of Ipswich

Anderson came to the English Bar after spells in Washington DC (1985-86) at Covington and Burling and in Brussels (1987-88) in the private office of Lord Cockfield, the European Commissioner tasked with completing the Internal Market.

As a practitioner since 1988 at Brick Court Chambers in London and Queen's Counsel since 1999, Anderson is best known for his 150 cases in the Court of Justice of the European Union, including his appearances for the applicants in the landmark constitutional cases Factortame (supremacy of EU law:1988-2000) and Kadi (UN/EU terrorist sanctions: 2005-2010). He also practises in the full range of English courts, where he contested the free speech case ProLife Alliance v BBC. Among more than 30 cases that he has presented to the European Court of Human Rights are Bowman v UK (free speech and election spending), McGonnell v UK[5] (separation of powers), Hatton v UK [6](environmental rights), Demopoulos v Turkey[7] (post-invasion property rights) and Gaunt v UK[8] (journalistic freedom of expression).

Anderson is a Bencher of Middle Temple, sat as a Recorder of the Crown Court from 2004 to 2013, and has since 2014 been a Judge of the Courts of Appeal of Guernsey and Jersey, where he was also the Investigatory Powers Commissioner between 2017 and 2020. Among other professional honours, Anderson was described as the UK's "Legal Personality of the Year" in 2015,[9] and as one of London's 1000 most influential people in 2017.[10]

Anderson succeeded Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE QC as the UK's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation in February 2011. He stepped down after two three-year terms as Independent Reviewer, and was succeeded in post by Max Hill QC on 1 March 2017.[11][12][13][14] All but one of his 20 reports as Independent Reviewer were laid before Parliament and published in full.

Both Government and opposition credited Anderson for his influence on the Justice and Security Act 2013, which governs the use of closed material procedures in UK courts.[15] His reports and evidence to Parliament also influenced the law governing Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIMs, the successors to control orders), which were reformulated in accordance with his recommendations in 2015;[16] the scope of the power to stop and detain travellers under Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000;[17] and the practice of asset-freezing.[18] Other reports concerned the deprivation of citizenship[19] and the practice of deportation with assurances.[20]

The UK Supreme Court referred to Anderson's work with approval in R v Gul (2013)[21] and Beghal v DPP (2015),[22] as did the European Court of Human Rights in Beghal v UK (2019).[23] He wrote in 2014 and 2017 on the channels by which the Independent Reviewer may hope to influence the law and policy of counter-terrorism.[24] Some broader reflections on terrorism and the law were published in 2013[25] and 2018,[26] and on reporting terrorism in 2019.[27]

"A Question of Trust",[28] Anderson's June 2015 report of his Investigatory Powers Review, described the obscurity of the then law as "undemocratic, unnecessary and - in the long run - intolerable". Its 125 recommendations aimed to replace it with "a clear, coherent and accessible scheme, adapted to the world of internet-based communications and encryption". The report has been described in an opinion piece by an editor at the Guardian as "the turning point that policymakers have looked for and missed ever since 9/11",[29] and was a blueprint for the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. Following publication of the report, Anderson was shortlisted in 2015 by ISPA for its "Internet Hero of the Year" award.[30]

In August 2016 followed the report of Anderson's Bulk Powers Review,[31] with 60 case studies, which examined the operational case for the bulk retention of data by MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and is a significant factual resource for debates on "mass surveillance". Both these reports were relied upon by the European Court of Human Rights in its "fulltext":["Big Brother Watch"],"documentcollectionid2":["GRANDCHAMBER","CHAMBER"],"itemid":["001-186048"]} Big Brother Watch judgment of September 2018. Anderson's expert evidence in the Irish High Court on police use of communications data was relied upon by the Supreme Court in its Dwyer judgment of February 2020.[32]

Anderson has criticised the UK's broad definition of terrorism,[33] and warned in September 2015 of potential dangers in the Government's proposed Counter-Extremism Bill, subsequently shelved.[34] He published a lecture on "Extremism and the Law" in 2019.[35] He has also written[36] and broadcast[37][38] on the Prevent strategy, and on human rights as an aid to the fight against terrorism and extremism.[39][40] He was a member of the Expert Group advising the Counter-Extremism Commission from July 2018 to July 2019.

On 28 June 2017, after stepping down from the post of Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Anderson was commissioned by Home Secretary Amber Rudd to provide independent assurance of the detailed review work commissioned by MI5 and Counter-Terrorism Police into their handling of intelligence prior to the four terrorist attacks in London and Manchester between March and June 2017.[41] His report, which quality-assured the conclusions and operational improvements arrived at by MI5 and the police with his input, was published in December 2017,[42] with a follow-up in June 2019.[43]

Having applied to be a "people's peer", Anderson was nominated for a life peerage by the independent House of Lords Appointments Commission in June 2018.[44] He was created Baron Anderson of Ipswich, of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk, on 10 July,[45] and sits as a cross-bencher. He gave his maiden speech on 19 July 2018 in a debate on the impact of referendums on parliamentary democracy.[46] Since then he has been active on a wide range of Bills and other issues, ranging from national security[47] and internet safety[48] to constitutional and EU-related matters. He moved the amendment in July 2019 that limited the Government's scope to prorogue Parliament,[49][50] and has spoken and written against the dangers of populism[51] and of a no-deal Brexit.[52] He was a member of the EU Justice Sub-Committee of the House of Lords,[53] and since 2020 has served on the EU Security and Justice Sub-Committee.[54]

Anderson's parliamentary speeches and questions are collected here.

Since 2000 Anderson has at various times been a trustee or a member of the advisory/editorial board of legal and educational institutions including the Centre of European Law at the Dickson Poon School of Law, the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe, the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, the Slynn Foundation,[1] the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, the European Human Rights Law Review and the UCL European Institute, whose advisory board he currently chairs. He is the author of References to the European Court (Sweet & Maxwell 1995, 2002) and numerous articles in learned journals. He has also written for publications including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Evening Standard, Prospect and The Literary Review. Anderson has been since 1999 a Visiting Professor at King's College London and is a former General Editor of the OUP's Oxford European Union Law Library.[2] Between 2000 and 2004 he was appointed by the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to monitor and report on the freedom of the media in Georgia, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.[3]

Since July 2019 he has chaired Inter Mediate, a charity engaged in mediation and negotiation whose CEO is Jonathan Powell, and which focuses on some of the most difficult, dangerous and complex conflicts worldwide.

A native of Edinburgh, Anderson was the co-promoter, (with Patrick Caublot of Amiens Rugby Club) of the Auld Alliance Trophy.[4][5][6][7] First awarded (to Scotland) in February 2018, and presented every year at the Six Nations rugby international between Scotland and France, the solid silver trophy commemorates the rugby players of both nations who lost their lives in the First World War. It bears the names of Anderson's great-great-uncle Eric Milroy (Scotland's captain in 1914, killed at Delville Wood in July 1916) and of his French counterpart, the aviator Marcel Burgun.[8]