A LAWYER from Swindon will head to Florida next month, not for a holiday, but to work with lawyers fighting for inmates on death row.

Catherine Dunmore, 27, who grew up in Chiseldon, is currently volunteering with two organisations in London after shifting the focus of her successful legal career from international arbitration to human rights law.

The former Ridgeway School student will be spending three months in the United States working on a voluntary basis with an organisation called Amicus.

They provide legal representation for the most vulnerable death row inmates in the US penal system – she will be based in the Fort Lauderdale area of Florida, just north of Miami.

“I’m a qualified lawyer but at the moment I’m spending some time switching my area of focus towards human rights issues,” said Catherine.

“This is something I’ve been keen to do for quite a few years, ever since I was at secondary school and volunteered with Amnesty International – since then I’ve always been against the death penalty.

“I always believed it would be a great experience to be able to go out to America to make a difference on these cases.

“Obviously there is work that can be done from the UK but in terms of actually meeting with people and getting to grips with the situation on the ground it makes all the difference to be able to go out there - I feel now is the right time to go out and do this.”

Florida is one of 31 American states to still have the death penalty and as of January this year 389 people were awaiting execution there – over 40 have legal appeals pending.

Catherine’s work will mainly focus on cases that are at a pre-trial stage rather than those going through the lengthy appeals process.

She will spend her time preparing legal arguments and meeting with defendants in prison as well as their families to prepare mitigation evidence in an effort to avoid the death penalty in the first place.

Catherine added: “I’m hoping I can draw on my experience and the legal abilities that I’ve got.

“Although it is a different legal jurisdiction there are a number of transferable skills such as meeting with clients and families as well as legal research which are very similar.

“I also hope to do a Masters in September and this will allow me to be better informed on a number of the issues involved.”

Catherine is self-funding her trip which she estimates will cost around £4,000 once she includes travel, accommodation and living costs.

She has been grateful for the help of friends and family but she hopes that others who are passionate, as she is, about challenging the death penalty, will be able to support her efforts.

To get behind Catherine you can visit http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/help-catherine-fight-for-justice-on-death-row