Andrea Coomber is an Australian barrister and solicitor who, as of November 2021, is the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform. Coomber was also a legal director at the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, known as INTERIGHTS, before she left the organization in 2013, and was the fifth director of JUSTICE, a membership-based law reform charity in the United Kingdom that focuses on left-of-center criminal justice reform. ^{1 2 3}

Background

Andrea Coomber is an Australian barrister and solicitor who, as of November 2021, is the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, a charitable organization based in London, United Kingdom that advocates for criminal justice reform. The group also pushes for left-of-center policies such as shorter prison sentences, the elimination of prison sentences for non-violent crimes, community service sentences as an alternative to prison, the elimination of bail, and investments in community services that it claims would help to prevent crime. ^{4 5}

Coomber grew up in Perth, Australia, and graduated from the University of Western Australia in 1995, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree as well as a bachelor of legislative law degree. Coomber returned to education in 2000 until 2001 when she attended the London School of Economics and Political Science where she earned a master of laws degree. ⁴

Career

After completing her education, in January 2001, Andrea Coomber became the head of information and training at the International Service for Human Rights, an international human rights organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. Coomber’s department was responsible for training and providing information regarding United Nations “human rights mechanisms” to other non-governmental organizations. ^{1 6}

Coomber left the International Service for Human Rights in October 2001, and joined the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, better known as INTERIGHTS, as an equality lawyer in September 2002. INTERIGHTS was a London-based human rights legal organization established in 1982. During her time at INTERIGHTS, Coomber was promoted to legal director. She left INTERIGHTS in February 2013 and the organization closed in 2014. ^{1 2 3}

Following her departure form INTERIGHTS, Coomber was the fifth director of law reform charity group JUSTICE, eventually becoming the group’s director in February 2013 before leaving in October 2021. ¹

In October 2019, Coomber became a lay member of the Conduct Committee of the House of Lords, the second chamber in the United Kingdom’s Parliament. ⁷ Lay members of parliamentary committees are members of the public rather than members of the parliamentary chambers. She still serves in this position as of October 2024. ^{1 8 9 10}

Coomber became the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform (the Howard League) in November 2021, a position she holds as of October 2024. The Howard League is a London-based charity that advocates left-of-center criminal justice policy changes including shorter prison sentences, the elimination of prison sentences for non-violent crimes, community service sentences as an alternative to prison, the elimination of bail, and investments in community services that it claims would help to prevent crime. ^{1 5}

Coomber was a trustee at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law from 2014 until August 2019, and a trustee at the British and Irish Legal Information Institute from 2015, a position she holds as of October 2024. Coomber was also an advisory board member of the Menzies Australia Institute from November 2019 until July 2022 and has been on the advisory council for the Initiative for Strategic Litigation in Africa since 2014. ¹

Coomber was appointed Honorary Queen’s Counsel in 2002 for her contribution to the development of the law in England and Wales. ¹¹

Judicial Advocacy

In April 2017, U.K-based advocacy group JUSTICE released a report titled “Increasing judicial diversity” which called for gender and ethnic diversity in the country’s judicial system while claiming it’s, “…still dominated by white and privately educated men,” and that “the quality of our senior judiciary will improve when drawn from a more diverse cohort.” ¹²

The report also called for diversity targets, claiming “target-setting can help to tackle the diversity deficit,” and ensure “real progress is either made, or if not, the failure publicly exposed and then debated.” The report further proposed “targets with teeth” for courts it accuses of lacking diversity, further alleging that if targets are not met within a decade, “strong consideration should be given to introducing quotas.” ^{12 13} The report also claimed that when hiring candidates, “the ability to contribute to a diverse judiciary should be taken in to [sic] account.” ¹²

During an interview with The Guardian in 2017, Coomber claimed that proposals within the JUSTICE report would be “unpopular” but further alleged that senior staff should accept unpopular decisions to “deliver a more diverse judiciary.” ¹³ Coomber further claimed that it was the “perfect time for change” and a “real chance to change swiftly the demographic composition of our senior judiciary.” ¹³

1. “Andrea Coomber – Experience.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-coomber-kc-hon-224b15/details/experience/.
2. “Masters of the Bench – Andrea Coomber.” Middle Temple. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.middletemple.org.uk/bencher-persons-view?cid=46211.
3. “INTERIGHTS – The International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights.” Union of International Associations. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://uia.org/s/or/en/1100050813.
4. “Andrea Coomber.” LinkedIn. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-coomber-kc-hon-224b15/?originalSubdomain=uk.
5. “Grasping the nettle: Options for a lasting solution to the prison capacity crisis.” Howard League for Penal Reform. July 10, 2024. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://howardleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Grasping-the-nettle-Options-for-a-lasting-solution-to-the-prison-capacity-crisis-.pdf
6. “About Us | International Service for Human Rights.” ISHR. October 11, 2024. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://ishr.ch/about-us/.
7. Conduct Committee – Membership – Committees – UK Parliament.” UK Parliament. Accessed October 25, 2024. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/402/conduct-committee/membership/.
8. “Lay members – Committee on Standards.” U.K. Parliament. September 13, 2021. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/290/committee-on-standards/content/116434/lay-members-committee-on-standards/.
9. “House of Lords.” U.K. Parliament. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/.
10. “Andrea Coomber.” The Howard League for Penal Reform. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://howardleague.org/andrea-coomber-kc-hon/.
11. Justice, Ministry of. “New Queen’s Counsel welcomed by Lord Chancellor.” GOV.UK . December 22, 2021. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-queen-s-counsel-welcomed-by-lord-chancellor-1.
12. “Increasing Judicial Diversity.” JUSTICE. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://files.justice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/06170655/JUSTICE-Increasing-judicial-diversity-report-2017-web.pdf.
13. Bowcott, Owen. “Lack of diversity among UK senior judiciary is ‘serious constitutional issue’.” The Guardian. April 25, 2017. Accessed October 21, 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/law/2017/apr/25/lack-of-diversity-among-uk-senior-judiciary-is-serious-constitutional-issue.