Professor Simon Lee

Simon Lee is the Emeritus Professor of Jurisprudence, Queen’s University Belfast and was formerly Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University and Rector and Chief Executive of Liverpool Hope University. He is also Chair of Level Partnerships Ltd., which provides services to foster partnerships in sport, the arts, education, housing, diverse communities, businesses, health services and the wider public sector, and chair of the John Paul II Foundation for Sport. He has taught law at Queen’s Belfast, King’s College London and Trinity College, Oxford and studied at Balliol College, Oxford, as a Harkness Fellow at Yale Law School and at the English College, Gregorian University, Rome. Simon was one of the co-founders of Initiative ’92, a citizens’ movement which commissioned an enquiry into ways forward for Northern Ireland. Together with his own writing on the troubles, this was not just an important part in what became the peace process but a forerunner of what we now call the Big Society.

Simon was a trustee of the ResPublica Trust from 2011 until February 2013. He has served on numerous public and private Boards including the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights (1992-1996); South & East Belfast Health & Social Services Trust (1994-1995); National Standards Task Force, Department for Education (1997-2001); Arriva/Merseytravel joint venture for Liverpool trams (Chair, 1997-1999); Netherley Valley Partnership (Chair, 1998-2002); Liverpool Education interim monitoring board (Chair, 1999-2000); Everyman & Playhouse Theatres (Chair, 1998-2002); The Tablet (2003-2006); Harrogate International Festival (2005-2008); Northern Ballet Theatre (2006-2010); Plater Review (Chair, 2007-2008); Leeds Carnegie Rugby Union (Chair, 2007-2009); Podium coordinating universities/colleges for London 2012 (Chair, 2008-2010); Leeds Teaching Hospitals Charitable Foundation (2009-present).

Simon has written extensively including: Law & Morals (1986), Judging Judges (1988), Believing Bishops – co-author (1989), The Cost of Free Speech (1990), Freedom from Fear – editor(1991), Learning Legal Skills – co-author (1993), Uneasy Ethics (2003), Hand of God – forthcoming (2011).