Carolyn Hamilton


Dame Carolyn Paula Hamilton DBE is a barrister who specialises in children's rights. She is also director of Coram Children's Legal Centre, an independent national charity dedicated to the promotion and implementation of children's rights based at the University of Essex. Hamilton has the position of professor at Essex.

Early life and family

Carolyn Paula Hamilton was born in Hendon, London, in November 1951 to David Hamilton and his wife Laura. She has a brother Alan S. Hamilton. Her father escaped Nazi Germany as a boy before the Second World War on the first Kindertransport ship to England and subsequently made a fortune in real estate and fashion. In 2016, a dispute between Carolyn and her brother Alan over the division of their father's estate became the subject of a bitter court case.

Career

Hamilton is a barrister who specialises in children's rights. In 1995 she was appointed director of Coram Children's Legal Centre, an independent national charity dedicated to the promotion and implementation of children's rights based at the University of Essex where Hamilton is a member of the department of law. She was a Consultant on Juvenile Justice to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2001-2003. She was the Child and Family Commissioner for the Legal Services Commission until December 2010.
She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to children's rights.

Selected publications