Professor Sir Bob Hepple, LL.D (Cambridge), B.A.,LL.B and Hon LL.D (Witwatersrand), Hon LL.D (UCL), Hon LL.D (Capetown), Dott. Giur. h.c. (Bari) was Master of Clare College from 1993-2003, and Professor of Law in the University of Cambridge from 1995-2001. He was appointed an Honorary Queen's Counsel in 1996, and was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003. He was an Honorary Professor of Law in the University of Cape Town from 1999-2005, and has been a visiting lecturer in many other universities. He has practised as a barrister in the areas of international, EU and UK employment and discrimination and human rights law. He has been a chairman of industrial tribunals (England and Wales), a Commissioner for Racial Equality, and a Chair of the European Roma Rights Centre, and was Senior Vice-President of the UN Administrative Tribunal.

Born in South Africa in 1934, he was active in the anti-apartheid  struggle. As an advocate at the Johannesburg Bar he defended ANC leaders including Mandela. In 1963 he was indicted with Mandela and others on charges which carried the death penalty. He managed to flee the country and was a banned person in South Africa for 27 years. He is the author or co-author of more than 20 books, including Race, Jobs and the Law in Britain (1968 and 1970). His most recent book is Equality: the New Legal Framework (Feb 2011).