politician Member of the House of Lords
Born in South Africa, he was educated at the University of Witwatersrand (Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws 1955), and worked as a human rights lawyer 1958-1965, including as defence attorney of the leadership of the African National Congress at the 1963-1964 Rivonia Trial, helping to represent Nelson Mandela.
Later he moved to the United Kingdom, and worked in the financial services industry, setting up Hambro Life Assurance with Sir Mark Weinberg as well as in the voluntary sector. He was associated with Oxfam in various roles between 1982 and 2001, including being its Chair 1995–2001. He actively pursues a range of charitable activities as chair of the Joffe Charitable Trust.
In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Laws) from the University of Bath.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 1999 New Year Honours, and made a life peer on 16 February 2000, being raised to the peerage as Baron Joffe, of Liddington in the County of Wiltshire. In February 2003 he proposed as a Private Member"s Bill the "Assisted Dying for the Terminally Illinois Bill", which would legalise physician-assisted dying.
After deliberation by a Lords committee, the bill was put forward again in November 2005. On 12 May 2006; the Bill was debated once again in the House of Lords and an amendment to delay its introduction by six months was carried by a margin of 148–100.
He appeared on the British Broadcasting Corporation radio programme Desert Island Discs on 28 October 2007.
Joffe retired from the House of Lords on 30 March 2015.
