Lord Lester of Herne Hill QC died in August 2020, aged 84. In March 2022, his family held a celebration of his life and work, which I reported shortly afterwards:
As a young lawyer, Lester visited the American South twice during the civil rights era and wrote a report on race relations. His experiences there persuaded him that the practice of law could be used to promote political and social change.
“Reinforced by my involvement with American constitutional law and civil rights in the Deep South,” he wrote in his memoir Talking to Myself, “I decided to give it a try. It was life-changing.”
In his memory, Lester’s family have now established fellowships at Bard College in upstate New York where his son runs a centre for the performing arts.
Two fellowships will be awarded for the 2024/25 academic year. Each fellow will receive a stipend of $25,000 for a project lasting at least three months in a country other than their own. Afterwards, the fellows will write a short report on their projects and will be invited to give a presentation at the college. The fellowships are open to lawyers or law students early in their careers.
An experience like this can be life-changing. My own gap-year project was closer to home, but no less transformative for that.
Here is an interview I recorded with Lester at Jewish Book Week on 1 March 2017. We discussed his memoir, Five Ideas to Fight For (Oneworld Publications, 2016). Applicants for the fellowships would be well advised to watch it — and read the book.
For reasons I explain at the outset, the recording begins with me reading extracts from Lester’s memoir — very slowly.