Called to bar 22 November 2012 - Grays Inn. Call to the bar in Jamaica, 1996
Philip has worked as an international human rights lawyer at the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington DC, USA, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in Geneva, Switzerland, the Human Dignity Trust (HDT) in London, and as a legal consultant for inter-governmental organisations such as UNAIDS and various NGOs in the Caribbean and Africa. As such, he is well-versed in the litigation process of the UN, Inter-American and African human rights systems.
Having conducted strategic litigation on issues involving sexual orientation, HIV and AIDS, Philip is an expert in comparative public law analysis. He has written amicus briefs in cases such as William Roy Leung v Secretary of Justice, Hong Kong Court of Appeal, Major Margaret Witt v Donald Rumsfeld Secretary of Defence, US Court of Appeal for the 9th Circuit, USA and the Blue Diamond Society case in the Supreme Court of Nepal.
As legal officer at the ICJ, he was the key manager in the creation, of the “Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity” in Yogyakarta, Indonesia , and principal author of the ICJ legal practitioners’ guide on “Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and International Human Rights Law” (2009).
Philip is formerly a legal officer and now trustee of the Human Dignity Trust (HDT) – an organisation that uses litigation to challenge laws that criminalise homosexuality around the world, He is also on the board of the San Francisco charity called Organisation for Refuge Asylum and Migration (ORAM) – an organisation that advocates and conducts legal research of asylum and migration issues related to LGBT populations.
Philip is a Guardian Law contributor on issues concerning sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS, article 8 and 14 of ECHR, international human rights law and international justice. He speaks conversational French.
Awards
British Chevening Scholarship, 2000
Suffolk and North Essex Law Society (SNELS) for 1st place on the masters or Law (LL.M) 2000-01 programme, Essex University
Memberships
Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL)
Qualifications
Bar Transfer Test (BTT), 2012
Masters of Law (LLM) in International Human Rights law (Distinction), Essex University, 2002
Legal Education Certificate (Jamaican Bar Vocational course), Norman Manley Law School, 1996
Bachelor of Laws (Honours) 1993, University of the West Indies, 1993
