Lord Joel Joffe
Joel Joffe, now Baron Joffe CBE, is a Labour peer in the British House of Lords, and was one of the lawyers who represented Nelson Mandela at the Rivonia Trial in 1963-4, where Mandela faced the death penalty. After Mandela’s conviction, he visited him briefly on Robben Island, to ask if Mandela wanted to appeal – he didn’t. Born and educated in South Africa, Joffe became a human rights lawyer, representing Mandela and other political prisoners. He left South Africa in 1965 and was banned from returning, and moved to the UK to work in the financial services industry and in the voluntary sector. He had a long association with Oxfam, and was its Chair from 1995-2001.