Michael Rubinstein

Michael Bernard Rubinstein (6 November 1920 – 12 January 2001) was a solicitor who specialised in representing authors and publisher. He acted for Penguin Books in the obscenity trial in 1960, R v Penguin Books Ltd., following publication of an uncensored edition of D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Rubinstein was born in Kensington. His father Harold Rubinstein (1891-1975) was a solicitor with expertise in publishing matters; he acted on the unsuccessful defence of Radclyffe Hall's novel, The Well of Loneliness on obscenity charges in 1928. His mother, Lina Naomi Rubinstein, née Lowy (died 1939) was the sister of Ruth, wife of publisher Victor Gollancz. His father also wrote several plays, which were published by his brother-in-law. His younger brother Hilary Rubinstein became a publisher and literary agent.

Rubinstein was educated at St Paul's School, London. In the Second World War, he served in the Royal Engineers and then the Royal Artillery, being demobilized as a captain. He then studied law.

He married Edna Joy Smith Douthwaite in July 1955. She was a ballet dancer, better known under her stage name Joy Boulter. They had two daughters, Imogen and Polly and two sons, Adam and Zachary.

In 1948 Rubinstein joined his father as a lawyer at the family law firm Rubinstein, Nash & Co, founded by his grandfather Joseph Samuel Rubinstein in 1889. He specialised in representing publishers and authors, including Chatto & Windus, Sidgwick & Jackson, Hodder & Stoughton, Jonathan Cape, Victor Gollancz, and Penguin Books. He acted for Penguin Books in its successful defence on charges of obscenity in 1960 following publication of an uncensored edition of D.H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover, marshalling 35 witnesses to testify to the book's literary merit.

...
Wikipedia