Kirsty Brimelow KC

Kirsty was appointed Queen’s Counsel (King’s Counsel) in 2011. She was Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales between 2012-2018 and served as Vice-Chair and on the Executive over the previous decade. Kirsty was the Vice-Chair and then Chair of the Criminal Bar Association between 2021-2023. She is Vice-Chair Elect of the Bar Council of England and Wales.

Kirsty was appointed a Recorder in 2022 and Deputy High Court Judge in 2021. She sits in Crown Courts on the Southeastern Circuit and in the King’s Bench Division in the Royal Courts of Justice. 

Kirsty is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and was elected member of the Management Committee (2020-2023). She is a Director of WWF- UK (2021 -2027) and Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths Faculty of Law, University of London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Kirsty practises in criminal, international and public law from Doughty Street Chambers. She is an accredited mediator and acts in conflict resolution. She is an experienced trainer, facilitator, and Conference speaker in international human rights around the world, holding consultancies to the United Nations and OSCE. In 2018 Kirsty won the First 100 Years Inspirational Woman in Law Barrister of the Year Award and the Bar Council’s Advocate’s pro bono International Barrister of the Year Award. 

Between 2011 and 2018, Kirsty compiled and led 12 training delegations and two fact findings of UNICEF's Child Protection Networks, the National Human Rights Commission and the National Judicial Institute in Nigeria in child rights, environmental law and rights of internally displaced persons. 

In 2014 Kirsty was part of the team submitting proposals to the Home Affairs Committee to combat Female Genital Mutilation. These included FGM Protection Orders. These proposals were adopted and passed into legislation with Kirsty acting as legal advisor to cross-party peers and ministers. In 2019 Kirsty joined the National Working Group on Child Abuse Linked to Faith or Belief. She worked closely with the National FGM Centre carrying out legal training on child protection.

In 2017 Kirsty was the overall moderator and speaker at the first UN Conference on abuse of people through witchcraft and abuse of people with albinism (in collaboration with Special Rapporteur). She co-drafted the UN resolution on Elimination of Harmful Practices Related to Manifestation of Belief in Witchcraft. 

This resolution was passed by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 12 July 2021.