Richard Hermer

Spear’s Review 

‘Richard is Attorney General and is not currently taking on new instructions,’ reads Richard Hermer KC’s single-sentence biography on Matrix Chambers’ website. Hermer, who took silk in 2009 and joined Matrix in 2012, was chosen for the busy AG role by Sir Keir Starmer when the new prime minister entered office on 5 July 2024, elevating the head of chambers and deputy High Court judge to the very pinnacle of the UK legal profession. 

Hermer is one of a number of outsider appointments made by Starmer, and was created a life peer in July – instead of serving as a sitting MP — alongside Lord Vallance, now the Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation.

Hermer’s esteemed legal career has included acting for 900 survivors, victims and bereaved relatives of the Grenfell tower fire, securing a £150 million settlement for the claimants in 2023. He also acted for human rights charity Liberty in its intervention in the Shamima Begum case in the Court of Appeal (which later made its way to the Supreme Court).