Paul Diamond

Paul Diamond is a barrister who practices in the field of the law of religious liberty.  He is one of Britain’s and Europe’s leading attorneys in this area.  He has been instructed in some of the most controversial cases; for example, the case of the British Airways employee who was prevented from wearing a Cross (whilst other religious groups were permitted to manifest their faith), the right to free religious speech during a General Election by the ProLife Alliance and in cases over the repeated clash between the religious rights of individuals and the same sex agenda.  In his recent major case, on the right of a Christian marriage counselor to be exempted from the counseling of same sex partners, he acted on behalf of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey.  Paul’s counsel is sought after by a number of religious leaders and organizations.

The rapid growth of the militant secular agenda which seek to remove religious values from public life has turned a rather specialist and sleepy area of law into the front line in the battle to maintain Judeo Christian civilized values.  This gave the opportunity to Paul to develop his legal skills.

Paul was always fascinated with the issue of religion and felt the call of God in his life.  After studying Middle East Government, Paul attended Magdalene College, Cambridge to study law.  From there, he won a scholarship to the Hague Academy of International Law, The Netherlands.  An early article by Paul, attracted the attention of Lord Denning (the most famous British Judge) who openly supported Paul’s arguments.  He commenced practice thereafter and has appeared before all levels of court including the House of Lords. 

Early in his career, he became the barrister to the Keep Sunday Special Campaign (until the mid 1990s, Britain had a ban on Sunday trading and the campaign sought to keep Sundays as a ‘day of rest’).  As standing Counsel, Paul handled many leading controversial cases and built a reputation for his future work in religious liberties.  The issue of Sunday working was one that directly affected family life as the pressures on low income families to work has become relentless in recent years. 

Paul has been involved in a number of controversial cases.  In 2009, he was instructed to prevent a Hizbollah terrorist from entering the United Kingdom by the use of the threat of an international arrest warrant; and in 2011, Vladimir Bukovsky, the famous Soviet dissident instructed Paul to seek legal redress against former Soviet President Gorbachev.