Timothy Dutton

BA Jurisprudence 1975
KC
CBE

Aged 17, Tim was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and on admission to hospital weighed just 70lbs. Severely ill, he realised that he had suffered a near-death experience. Despite the illness, in 1975 he joined Keble and was taught by Professor James (Jim) Harris from whom he learnt that any lawyer must work furiously hard and with logical rigour. Called to the Bar in 1979 he has practised in civil work increasingly focused on commercial law and professional regulation; he is often described as “the doyen of regulatory law”.

In 1987 he was invited to teach advocacy to practising lawyers in the USA. From this experience he realised that teaching of advocacy in the UK lacked sophistication. In 1994 he founded, and for the next 10 years directed, the Keble College Advanced International Advocacy Course which teaches practising advocates how to improve their skills, always complying with ethical standards. The course is regarded as the world’s leading advocacy course for practising advocates, and the model has been widely exported. In 2004 Tim was elected leader of the South-Eastern Circuit, and in 2008 he was elected Chair of the Bar Council through which he campaigned for better standards of integration and inclusion. The same year he became head of chambers at Fountain Court.

Tim married Burmese barrister Sappho Dias. Together they founded the Burma Justice Committee to work on re-establishing the rule of law in Burma.

In 2010 he was diagnosed with Dupuytrans Contracture; and in 2014 with Motor Neurone Disease. He says that “he collects diseases like other barristers collect fine wine”. He continues to work as a barrister and since the MND diagnosis in 2014 he has conducted many well-publicised trials, appearing in the Supreme Court on four occasions.

His motto, “treat every day as if it were the last” is one he recommends to anybody who has read this far in his story.