Court's eleventh President

British lawyer Sir Nicolas Bratza first appeared before the Human Rights Court in 1981 when he represented the United Kingdom government in a key case concerning homosexual rights in Northern Ireland. He joined the Human Rights Commission, part of the previous Court system, in 1993 and became a permanent judge for the UK in 1998. He came from a family of musicians and lawyers: his father was a violinist, his mother an opera singer, and three of his ancestors were Law Lords sitting in the British House of Lords.

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