David’s experience in the Justice sector goes back 30 years. After studying Law at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), David was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1994, practised as a barrister in England and the United States and became the first black Briton to study a Masters in Law at Harvard Law School, graduating in 1997. 

In January 2016, the then Prime Minister David Cameron asked David to lead an independent review into the treatment of, and outcomes for, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals in our criminal justice system. The Lammy Review was published in September 2017 and included 35 wide-ranging policy recommendations for Government and the criminal justice sector. David was a member of the Government’s Serious Violence Taskforce from its formation in April 2018 until its dissolution after Boris Johnson became prime minister.

David was appointed the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice in 2020 and held the position until being appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary in November 2021. David has been responsible for pushing for much-needed change to our justice system. Long before the pandemic, the backlog in cases in our courts has been at crisis levels. David campaigned throughout his time as Shadow Justice Secretary to have the Government address the number of unheard cases in order to deliver justice to victims.