Lord Kenneth Macdonald

Honorary Fellow

Alumnus Lord Macdonald (1971, PPE) is one of the country’s top criminal lawyers and a former Director of Public Prosecutions. He became the Warden of Wadham College in September 2012, following the retirement of Sir Neil Chalmers.

Ken Macdonald QC has had a distinguished career as a criminal lawyer. One of the founders of Matrix Chambers, he was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003 to 2008. In 2007, he was knighted for services to the law. In July 2010, Ken Macdonald became a Liberal Democrat Peer and a member of the House of Lords, with the title Lord Macdonald of River Glaven QC.

In January 2011, he became Chair of Reprieve, the human rights charity, in succession to the late Lord Bingham of Cornhill. He read PPE at St Edmund Hall in 1971.