Jonathan Marks, Baron Marks of Henley-on-Thames

The Right Honourable The Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames KC
Official portrait, 2022
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 11 January 2011 Life peerage
Personal details
Born	Jonathan Clive Marks (1952-10-19) 19 October 1952
Political party	Social Democratic (1981–1988) Liberal Democrats (1988–present)
Spouses	Sarah Ann Russell ​ ​ (m. 1982; dissolved 1991)​ Medina Cafopoulos ​ (m. 1993)​
Children	7
Education	Harrow School
Alma mater	University College, Oxford Inns of Court School of Law

Jonathan Clive Marks, Baron Marks of Henley-on-Thames, KC (born 19 October 1952) is a British barrister and Liberal Democrat life peer in the House of Lords. He has been the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Justice since 2012.

Early life and education

Marks was born in London on 19 October 1952. His father was a dental surgeon with a large practice in Mayfair, London. His mother was a barrister, called in 1947, when there were 'only about 80 women at the Bar'. She had been evacuated to Cambridge during WW2 and studied law there. Marks claims to have known that he wanted to be a barrister from the age of 13 after watching his mother in court.

With his parents and sister, née Caroline Marks, author and current Countess of Harrowby and wife of Conroy Ryder, 8th Earl of Harrowby, Marks moved to Henley-on-Thames and spent much his childhood there.

Marks was educated at Harrow School, where he fostered a love of debating and ran the school debating society, choosing many political motions.

Marks then went to study Law at University College, Oxford, a college with a strong history of legal academics. In 1973, he was selected as one of a pair for a debating tour of Australia and New Zealand in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Oxford Union.

Career

Marks was called to the bar by Inner Temple in 1975. During the 1980s and early 1990s he was a visiting lecturer in advocacy at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, the University of Mauritius and Sri Lanka Law College. He was appointed QC in 1995 and continued in practice as a barrister. He has been a Freeman of the City of London since 1975 and is a member of the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers.

Marks joined the Social Democratic Party on its foundation in 1981. He contested Weston-super-Mare at the 1983 general election and Falmouth and Camborne at the 1987 general election as well as Cornwall and Plymouth at the 1984 European election.

Following the creation of the Liberal Democrats, Marks served as a member of the party's Committee for England in 1988–89. He was a member of the Federal Policy Committee from 2004 to 2015 and was Chair of the Liberal Democrat Lawyers Association from 2001 to 2007.

On 19 November 2010, it was announced that Marks would be created a life peer. He was created Baron Marks of Henley-on-Thames, of Henley-on-Thames in the County of Oxfordshire, on 11 January 2011 and was introduced to the House of Lords on 13 January. Marks has served on the Defamation Bill Joint Committee and for three years on the House of Lords Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee. In 2012 he was appointed Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Justice in the House of Lords and in 2015 was appointed the Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary.

In 2017, Marks, who was an outspoken opponent of Brexit, gained attention while speaking on the European Union Notification of Withdrawal Bill, warning of the dangers of undermining Britain's closest allies in the midst of an "isolationist and protectionist America, led by a President who chooses to govern by Twitter, with scant regard to facts or principles" (referring to Donald Trump).

Speaking with Anthony Inglese in an interview in 2023, Marks claimed that ‘People underestimate the influence of the Lords’, highlighting the House's role as the revising chamber; guardian of the constitution and protector of parliamentary democracy.

He continues in post as the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson on Justice and speaks regularly on justice issues. He is the sponsor of a private members' bill to give rights to cohabiting couples on relationship breakdown and intestacy, the Cohabitation Rights Bill. (Cohabitation Rights Bill [HL])

In addition, Marks remains a practicing barrister, with a wide ranging international civil practice. He has a reputation as a formidable and versatile advocate, particularly in cross-examination. He appears before a wide range of courts and tribunals and appears frequently in arbitrations in England and Wales and other jurisdictions, particularly in the Middle East.

Personal life

In 1982, Marks married Sarah Ann Russell, with whom he has one son and one daughter. Their marriage was dissolved in 1991, and Marks married Clementine Medina Cafopoulos in 1993, who also practised at the Bar of England and Wales for some years. He has three sons and two daughters from his second marriage. Represented among his seven children are the medical and solicitors’ professions and ‘a lot of thespians.'

Marks owned Tythrop Park, a Grade I-listed 17th-century manor house, until 2008 when it was sold to Nicholas Wheeler and Chrissie Rucker for £12.5 million. Marks then owned Holmwood, a Georgian country house in the Oxfordshire village of Binfield Heath, from 2008 to 2019, when he sold it to Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall for at least £11.25 million.

Arms

Coat of arms of Jonathan Marks, Baron Marks of Henley-on-Thames

Crest Two swords in saltire Argent perched and respectant on the blades thereof a Cornish chough Proper and martlet Or. Escutcheon Azure a Pegasus passant Argent maned tailed and unguled Or on a chief Argent three speedwell flowers Proper. Supporters Dexter a lion Sable pendant from the neck by a cord tied in the centre with a bow two arrows in saltire point downwards Argent sinister a stag Gules attired Or pendant from the neck by a cord tied with a bow a bugle horn also Or. Motto Justitia omnibus ('Justice for all')