| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord Shamash | |
| Office: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start: | 6 March 2024 Life peerage |
| Office2: | Member of Barnet London Borough Council for Burnt Oak |
| Term Start2: | 8 May 1986 |
| Term End2: | 4 May 1994 |
| Birth Name: | Gerald David Shamash |
| Birth Place: | Manchester, England |
| Party: | Labour Party |
| Spouse: | Naomi Angell |
| Children: | 3 |
| Alma Mater: | University of Surrey |
| Occupation: | Solicitor |
Gerald David Shamash, Baron Shamash (born 1947) is a British lawyer and life peer. He has acted as a solicitor for the Labour Party since 1990 and was appointed a member of the House of Lords in 2024.
Shamash was born in 1947[1] [2] in Manchester to parents who came to England from Baghdad.[2] The family moved to London when Shamash's brother-in-law Robert Sheldon was elected to Parliament in 1964.[3] Shamash joined the Labour Party in 1969 after involvement in student politics and the Anti-Apartheid Movement.[2]
Shamash attended North Cestrian Grammar School and Burnage Grammar School in Greater Manchester, and studied human and physical sciences at the University of Surrey to become a dentist before training to become a solicitor.[1] [2]
At the suggestion of his wife and her father, Shamash took up the study of law and qualified as a solicitor in 1976. His early legal career, at PR Kimber, was in criminal and personal-injury law. With Elaine Steel, he founded Steel & Shamash in 1981, based in Waterloo.[3] One of the first firms to be granted a Legal Aid Agency contract,[4] it merged with Edwards Duthie in 2019 to form Edwards Duthie Shamash,[1] and Shamash heads its parliamentary, electoral and media law practice.
Shamash has acted as a solicitor for the Labour Party since 1990,[5] having worked for the party since at least 1983.[1] He advised Labour during the Cash-for-Honours and parliamentary expenses scandals, and acted for public figures affected by the phone-hacking scandal.[3]
In the 1979 general election, Shamash stood unsuccessfully as a Labour Party candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Shoreham.[1] [3] He was subsequently elected a member of Barnet London Borough Council at the 1986 and 1990 council elections, representing the ward of Burnt Oak for two terms. Shamash has served as a magistrate in London since 1985.[3]
Shamash was nominated by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer for a life peerage[4] [6] and was created Baron Shamash, of West Didsbury in the City of Manchester, on 6 March 2024.
Shamash is married to Naomi Angell, a specialist in international adoption law;[3] they have three children who were adopted from South America.[2] He is a supporter of Manchester United Football Club and chaired the Manchester United Supporters' Trust from 2012 to 2021.[1] [7]
Shamash is Jewish but not religious.[2]