Catalogue description Neil LAWSON: British. A barrister and a Communist Party member from about 1931, LAWSON...

Neil LAWSON: British. A barrister and a Communist Party member from about 1931, LAWSON (who became a QC in 1955) first came to notice in 1932 when he acted for the 'Daily Worker' in a contempt of court case and in 1933 he was briefed, with D N Pritt, to defend the Communists accused in the Reichstag Fire trial. By 1938 he was Treasurer of the secret Legal Group of the Communist Party and Secretary of the Communist fraction of the National Council of Civil Liberties. He later allowed his overt connection with the Party to fade but continued to make undercover financial contributions until 1957. In the same year he was appointed legal adviser to the Rulers of the Malay States on constitutional matters, a job which he carried out in a notably objective manner