Dharsha Jegatheeswaran

Call: 2023 (United Kingdom), 2016 (Ontario, Canada)dj@onepumpcourt.co.uk

Experience

Dharsha Jegatheeswaran joined One Pump Court as a pupil in October 2023. She is currently undertaking her first six and intends to gain experience in housing and crime. She is supervised by Philip McLeish.

Prior to joining chambers Dharsha led Reprieve UK’s South Asia Death Penalty team where she assisted in the defence of individuals facing the death penalty for a wide range of offences including terrorism, drugs and murder in Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka. She also completed research and advocacy on legislative reform to reduce the scope of the death penalty in the region including with parliamentarians and policy makers in the EU and the UK.

Until recently she was also the Co-Director of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research, a human rights think-tank based in Jaffna, Sri Lanka which she co-founded while being based in Jaffna between 2016 and 2018. At ACPR she led research relating to militarisation and victim-centred accountability processes, and documentation of atrocity crimes. She worked closely with families of victims of enforced disappearances to build participatory models of advocacy, including helping coordinate a trip to the UN Human Rights Council and providing training on international human rights and criminal law. She continues to assist with ACPR’s work as a strategic advisor and by serving on the Board.

Dharsha also previously volunteered for REDRESS where she assisted with developing a novel legal argument on an intervention in an appeal to the UK Supreme Court on a universal jurisdiction case.

Dharsha is cross-qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in the province of Ontario, Canada. She completed her articles at a pre-eminent litigation firm in Toronto where she assisted on matters in a wide range of areas including employment, human rights, and constitutional law. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 2016. While in law school in Toronto she developed significant casework and legal research experience in refugee and immigration law. She is also hoping to gain experience in immigration law in pupillage.

Education

The London School of Economics and Political Science: LLM (2019)

The University of Toronto: Juris Doctor (2015)

McMaster University: Honours Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry (2011)

Professional Memberships

Honourable Society of Middle Temple Inn

Languages

Tamil (basic spoken)

Awards

Canadian Millennium Provincial Scholarship (2007-2011)

McMaster Entrance Scholarship (2007-2011)

Emerging Professional Award from the Canadian Tamil Professionals Association (2018)