Tony Leifer
Tony Leifer sits as a legal board member of the Charity Commission
Background
Mr Leifer has had a distinguished career at both DJ Freeman (1970-2003)[1] and Olswang LLP Solicitors (2003-2013)[1], at each of which he was partner and formerly Head of the Corporate Department.[2] As a lawyer, Leifer worked with disgraced media mogul Robert Maxwell, notably in his attempt to buy the Today newspaper. Law firm, Olswang, claim to have a close relationship with the banks, advising them on both 'reputation management' and 'key transactions in the field of… capital markets and derivatives'[3]
He is a Member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, a chair of their constitution committee and a member of the board's executive committee. The Board of Deputies are a "major player in Britain's Israel lobby who run a campaign called "Speak Out For Israel!", which promotes Zionist Federation events, and has organised rallies to defend Israel while the country conducted indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilians." The Board of Deputies have been involved in many controversies, such as, calling Interpal a "terrorist organisation", attacking the non-partisan Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), which works with Israelis and Palestinians to monitor human rights abuses and campaign for a just peace, for encouraging 'division' instead of 'dialogue and reconciliation and urging the Church of England not to support EAPPI's work. His work for the Board of Deputies of British Jews has lead to some people pointing out his senior position in "an organisation that disparages peace and human rights campaigners, aggressively promotes the interests of a foreign government, and has taken a strong line in a controversy over a charity’s status."[3]
Mr Leifer is Chairman of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality and Trustee of YaD and the Corrine Burton Memorial Trust.[2]
Education
- LLB and LLM, Law, London School of Economics and University of Berkeley[1]
Affiliations
Contact
- Website:
Resources
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tony Leifer Linkedin, accessed 26 November 2014
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 New board members appointed to Charity Commission Gov.uk, 22 May 2013, accessed 10 March 2014
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tim Holmes The Charity Commission's Board: an impartial watchdog? Spinwatch, 12 March 2014, accessed 26 November 2014
