Experience

Dharsha Jegatheeswaran joined One Pump Court as a pupil in October 2023. She commences her second six in April 2024 and accepts instructions in crime, housing and inquests.

Dharsha is cross-qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in the province of Ontario, Canada where she was called to the Bar in 2016.

Prior to joining One Pump Court, Dharsha had extensive experience working in international human rights and criminal law. Until commencing pupillage she was the Co-Director of the Adayaalam Centre for Policy Research (ACPR), 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 documentation of atrocity crimes and explored avenues for accountability in foreign domestic courts. She worked closely with families of victims of enforced disappearances to build participatory models of advocacy, including providing training on international human rights and criminal law across eight districts in Sri Lanka. She continues to assist with ACPR’s work as a strategic advisor.

As part of Dharsha’s interest in universal jurisdiction, whilst completing her LLM she 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 also previously led Reprieve UK’s South Asia Death Penalty team in assisting 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. Through this work she developed a particular interest in the experience of victims of trafficking in the criminal justice system in the UK and internationally. She organised advocacy on legislative reform to reduce the scope of the death penalty in the region with parliamentarians and policy makers in the EU and the UK.

In Canada, Dharsha 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. While in law school in Toronto she also developed significant casework and legal research experience in refugee and immigration law.

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

Women in Criminal Law

The Haldane Society

Human Rights Lawyers’ Association

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)