Sean Summerfield
Sean represents clients charged with a wide range of criminal offences including drug trafficking, robbery, burglary, serious violent and sexual assaults, and human trafficking.
Sean is particularly experienced at representing vulnerable clients, including children and adults with mental health issues such as emotionally unstable personality disorder, autism spectrum disorder, and paranoid schizophrenia.
Sean is also a Grade 1 Prosecutor, acting on behalf of the CPS in the Crown Court for a variety of hearings including appeals against sentence and conviction. He also prosecutes on behalf of local authorities.
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.
Sean has 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.
Professional Memberships & Appointments
- Attorney General’s Civil Off-Panel List of Junior Junior Counsel
- 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
- Doctor of Philosophy in Legal Studies (PhD), International Criminal Law, 2014-19
- 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
- Criminal Bar Association Bursary for Excellence in Advocacy, 2020
- Princess Royal Scholarship for the BPTC, Inner Temple, 2018-2019
- Economic and Social Research Council 1+3 Scholarship, 2013-17