Philip Joseph Shiner (born 25 December 1956) is a British former human rights solicitor. He was struck off the roll of solicitors in England and Wales in 2017 over misconduct relating to false abuse claims against British troops. He was Head of Strategic Litigation at Public Interest Lawyers (International) from 2014 until the firm's closure on 31 August 2016. He had previously been Principal at Public Interest Lawyers Ltd from 1999 to 2014. Early life and career Shiner was educated at the University of Birmingham (LLB, 1978) and the University of Warwick (LLM, 1985). He was an honorary research fellow at the University of Warwick from 1999 to 2004, an honorary professor of law at London Metropolitan University from 2005 to 2013, and a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics from 2005 to 2013. In July 2012, the University of Kent awarded him an honorary doctorate of law, which the university revoked in November 2017 following the findings of misconduct against him. Shiner was named human rights lawyer of the year in 2004, an award given jointly by the human rights organisations Liberty and JUSTICE, for "his tremendous skill, tenacity and dedication to fighting for justice". In 2007, he was named the Law Society's solicitor of the year. From 2004 to 2014 he was a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper. Misconduct findings Background Shiner had "led the pursuit of legal claims against British troops for their treatment of Iraqi detainees after the 2003 invasion". The law firm Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), of which he was the only director and the owner of 100% of its shares (and which subsequently closed down in August 2016), was "instrumental in passing on about 65% of the 3,392 allegations received by" the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat). Early courtroom successes for him in the Baha Mousa case were followed by controversy about other allegations, "the most serious of which turned out to be wholly untrue". He claimed that "UK soldiers had captured, tortured and murdered innocent Iraqi civilians after the Battle of Danny Boy near Amara in 2004". In 2014, a report by the Al-Sweady Inquiry showed that the dead "had been members of the Mahdi army militia, who ambushed a British patrol and were killed in exchanges of gunfire. Shiner subsequently admitted paying an Iraqi middleman to find claimants, a practice that is in breach of professional standards". Admissions and