Sean Summerfield
Sean was called to the Bar in 2019 and started pupillage in chambers the same year.
Sean regularly appears in the Crown Court, Magistrates’ Court and Youth Court, representing clients charged with a wide range of criminal offences including drug trafficking offences, robbery, serious assaults, burglary and human trafficking.
Before joining chambers, Sean had a successful career as a diplomat with the Foreign Office, negotiating on behalf of the United Kingdom in the Council of the European Union. Based in Brussels for five years, he also worked as a Political Advisor in the European Parliament and within the Cabinet of a European Commissioner.
Prior to this, Sean worked within the Prosecution team at the International Criminal Court during the Lubanga trial, the first successful ICC prosecution, as well as with the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, and human rights organisations based in Cambodia and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Sean holds a doctorate in International Criminal Law and lectures LLM students in the substantive and procedural aspects of international law.
Sean has been appointed to the Attorney General’s Civil Off-Panel List of Junior Junior Counsel.
Professional Memberships
- Bar Human Rights Committee
- Criminal Bar Association
- Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
Awards, Qualifications & Other
- Bar Professional Training Course (BPTC), City, University of London, 2018-19
- Princess Royal Scholarship for the BPTC, Inner Temple, 2018-2019
- Doctor of Philosophy in Legal Studies (PhD), International Criminal Law, 2014-19
- Economic and Social Research Council 1+3 Scholarship, 2013-17
- Master of Science (MSc), Legal Research Methods, 2013-14
- Master of Laws (LLM), International Criminal Law, 2008-09
- Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Law with Politics, 2005-08