George Bizos is said to have made an outstanding contribution to human rights law in South Africa and has received acclaim from Nelson Mandela for his work, arguing he knows of “no other person more worthy of this honour”.

To be presented to Bizos at the IBA annual conference in Auckland on 25 October this year, the award recognises his fight against racism and for his promotion of human rights. Bizos has been associated with many landmark trials on South Africa’s road to democracy, and was Mandela’s lawyers throughout the Rivonia Trials in the 1960s.

Bizos helped establish constitutional law and investigated apartheid0era crimes for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s and has recently been involved in an important case in Zimbabwe.

The award is sponsored by LexisNexis Matthew Bender.