Lord Carlile QC euthanasia debate in London, October 2010

Alex Carlile QC

Barrister, Liberal Democrat peer and joint chair of Living and Dying Well

Lord Carlile of Berriew is a practising barrister and former head of chambers of 9–12 Bell Yard. His high-profile cases have included acting as defence counsel to Paul Burrell (Diana, Princess of Wales’ butler), and in the Morecambe Bay Cocklers case.  Formerly a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire from 1983-1997, he was created a life peer in 1999 and is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.

In 2001 he was appointed the Government’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation and in 2006 he became the President of the Howard League for Penal Reform. Lord Carlile was the first Member of Parliament to campaign for the rights of transsexuals.

He is joint chair of Living and Dying Well, a public policy think tank established earlier in 2010 to research and explain, in an evidence-based and objective manner, the arguments surrounding the 'assisted dying' debate.