David Sellwood

David practices in the areas of immigration, human rights and criminal justice. He regularly appears before the First Tier Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration Chamber) and Magistrates and Youth Courts. He has also appeared in the Upper Tribunal (Asylum and Immigration Chamber), the High Court, and the Crown Court. Prior to coming to the Bar, David spent over eight years in the human rights sector. Before pupillage David worked at Reprieve, a legal action charity that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay. Initially he was Head of their European Commission funded Death Penalty project, identifying and assisting European nationals on death row in the United States. He later acted as Interim Director of their Death Penalty Team. David worked closely with U.S. legal teams and European diplomats, advising on domestic and international law relating to capital punishment and consular assistance. He was involved in the drafting of petitions to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, including in the case of Ivan Teleguz, a Ukrainian national facing execution in Virginia (IACHR, Report No. 53/13, Case 12.864, Merits, Ivan Teleguz, United States, July 15, 2013). David also co-authored an Amicus Curiae brief addressing prison conditions in the U.S, in the European Court of Human Rights case of Babar Ahmad and Others v United Kingdom (Application Nos 24027/07, 11949/08 and 36742/08, Judgment, 10 April 2012). David joined Reprieve from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), where he was a Human Rights Adviser seconded by the NGO Prisoners Abroad. ‐¨‐¨Whilst there he advised diplomats and government ministers on human rights issues affecting British nationals overseas, including the right to a fair trial, prisoners' rights, miscarriages of justice, and the death penalty. David has also worked as a Paralegal in the immigration department at Glazer Delmar Solicitors. He was subsequently employed as an accredited Senior Immigration Caseworker at Wilson Solicitors LLP, then Refugee and Migrant Justice, where he prepared and presented asylum and human rights appeals. He undertook an internship at the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR) in Kingston, Jamaica, through the Centre for Capital Punishment Studies, assisting local counsel and UK based lawyers representing prisoners sentenced to death.