Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC is the founding Chair of The Equal Rights Trust. He stepped down from his post in October 2007, to avoid conflict of interets arising from his appointment as Advisor to the UK Prime Minister on constitutional reform.

Lord Lester is a practising member of Blackstone Chambers, and a Liberal Democrat Peer.  He specialises in public law and European human rights law.  He was Special Adviser to the Home Secretary (Roy Jenkins) from 1974-76 with responsibility for policy advice on human rights.  He introduced two Private Members' Bills in the Lords to incorporate the European Human Rights Convention into UK law.  He has argued many leading cases (including cases on free speech and on discrimination) not only before English courts, but also before both European courts and Commonwealth courts. He is a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights and a House of Lords' European Law Scrutiny Committee.

Lord Lester is the Honorary President of INTERIGHTS (the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights), and has published numerous books and articles on constitutional law and human rights.  He is also a member of the Executive Board of the Open Society Institute Justice Initiative.