Martha Spurrier
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Early life
Spurrier was educated at Godolphin and Latymer School in London, and then at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where she graduated with a BA (Hons) in history. She took a law conversion course at City University London, and then the bar professional training course at BPP University.
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Career
Before joining Liberty from June 2016, Spurrier worked as a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, of which she remains an associate tenant. She is the author of Freedom to Write: A User's Guide (English PEN, 2012).
In 2015, she was one of the three joint founders of the "Act for the Act" campaign (with Caoilfhionn Gallagher and Fiona Bawdon), a crowdfunded advertising campaign to tell positive stories about the Human Rights Act 1998.
She took up her post at Liberty at the end of May 2016, taking over from Shami Chakrabarti. She was replaced as director by Akiko Hart in January 2024.
In July 2018, Spurrier was awarded the "Hero Award" at the 20th Annual ISPA Awards by the ISPA Council for challenging the Investigatory Powers Act in the High Court.
Personal life
She is married to fellow barrister Jesse Nicholls.