Stephen Jakobi

Stephen Ronald Jakobi OBE[1] (born 1935) is an English writer and human rights lawyer who is a former chief executive of Fair Trials Abroad (now Fair Trials), which he founded in 1992.[2][3]

Jakobi, who was born in Ealing, London in 1935 to German-Jewish parents, Gerdy and Julius Jakobi, was brought up there and in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire. When his parents divorced in 1945, he went to live with his father and was sent to boarding school at Malvern College. He graduated from Clare College, Cambridge in 1956[4] after doing National Service. He has a law degree from the University of Cambridge and an MA in creative writing from the University of Roehampton. He worked in industry before qualifying as a solicitor and was in private practice as a criminal lawyer before founding Fair Trials Abroad. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.[2][5][6]

He and his wife Sally, a retired Jungian analyst, married in 1964[7] and live in Ham[8] in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.[9] They have a son, Nicholas, and a daughter, Francesca,[10] who is a published novelist[7] and a journalist with the Financial Times.[11]

  1. ^ "No. 57509". The London Gazette. 30 December 2004. p. N24.
  2. ^ a b Campbell, Duncan (15 May 2006). "Jakobi steps down after 16 years championing fair trials abroad". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  3. ^ Trevalyen, Lucy (28 February 2008). "Emotional journey". The Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  4. ^ "The Stephen Jakobi Human Rights Prize, Clare College" (PDF). Clare College, Cambridge. 2022. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  5. ^ "Stephen Jakobi: Legal eagle with bite". BBC News. 31 December 2004. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Stephen Jakobi". Pen and Sword Books. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  7. ^ a b Jakobi, Francesca (1 June 2018). "I wrote a novel about my family. What could go wrong?". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  8. ^ "MP backs Ham based human rights charity". News Shopper. 28 May 2002. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  9. ^ Barrera, Priscila (16 April 2015). "Stephen Jakobi releases memoirs highlighting memorable human rights cases". Richmond and Twickenham Times. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
  10. ^ Drew, James (27 May 2003). "Freedom fighter: Stephen Jakobi". Politico. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  11. ^ Apostolides, Zoë (30 March 2018). "Bitter by Francesca Jakobi – the taste of regret". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 December 2022.