For over two decades, Thom Brooks has served as an adviser to government departments, parliamentary committees and public institutions on some of the most significant legal and constitutional questions facing the United Kingdom.
His advisory work spans the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice and the Law Commission with contributions acknowledged in Parliament and cited across four House of Lords committee reports. In January 2026 he gave oral evidence to the House of Lords Justice & Home Affairs Committee and his analysis was drawn on throughout the Committee’s report on Settlement, Citizenship and Integration (HL Paper 13, June 2026) where he was among the most frequently cited contributions to the inquiry. He also submitted written evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on citizenship and immigration.
His counsel is grounded in evidence and has been sought by governments of both parties over more than a decade. It is offered as a contribution to national life beyond his professional obligations at Durham University.
Institutional leadership
Government & parliamentary advisory work
Public service record
Citizenship & integration policy
Led the academic case for reform of the Life in the UK citizenship test over more than a decade, through two books and written and oral evidence to parliamentary committees. In 2022, he successfully proposed the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the Life in the UK test. He was subsequently among the most frequently cited witnesses to the Committee’s separate 2025–26 inquiry on settlement, citizenship and integration (HL Paper 13, 2026). His advisory work directly informed the Law Commission’s simplification of the Immigration Rules and cited across 14 sections of the final report.
National security & constitutional affairs
Thanked by name in the House of Commons by the Shadow Home Office Minister for assistance on the National Security Bill (Public Bill Committee, 2022). Cited in the Electoral Commission’s 2015 report recommending the Leave/Remain referendum wording later adopted by the Government and used in 2016.
Justice & sentencing
Contributed to Ministry of Justice research seminars on punishment and sentencing (2024). Scholarship on punishment quoted by the Connecticut Supreme Court in State v. Santiago (II), 318 Conn. 1 (2015), the landmark ruling abolishing the death penalty in his native state.
Extremism & social cohesion
Invited to contribute to the Extremism Threats Unit, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (October 2025), on integration and community cohesion.
Governance of the legal profession
Member, QC (Hons) selection panel (2019–2021). Chair, LNAT consortium (2021–2022), contributing to governance of access to legal education nationally.
International contribution
His scholarship has also been relied on in public life in the United States, including by the Connecticut Supreme Court in State v. Santiago (II) (2015) and he serves on the editorial advisory board of the Review of Politics at the University of Notre Dame. A dual citizen of the United Kingdom and the United States, he has held visiting positions at Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, Yale, Oxford, Penn and NYU.
Professor Brooks welcomes approaches for parliamentary and policy briefings, speaking engagements and media commentary.
Get in touch * Policy impact briefing (PDF) * Full CV (PDF) * Speaking engagements