[6] Burgess grew up in Castleford, West Yorkshire, with her mother, Comfort, a secondary-school headteacher, and older sister, Ros.

[4] In an obituary for Burgess, Stephen Whittle noted that the Winstanley-Burgess offices reflected its partners' priorities: "I entered a dark, dingy, decaying building on the East London Road, where dirty magnolia woodchip papered stud wall partitions, with holes where they had been torn and kicked in frustration by the firm's clients, and which looked as if they would collapse at any moment. ...

[4] From 1992 until 2002, she represented Press For Change[11] sometimes or always pro bono,[13] a group co-founded by Stephen Whittle that campaigns for transgender rights.

[14][15] Also in 1986, Burgess represented Viraj Mendis, a Sri Lankan national who claimed the right of sanctuary at the Church of the Ascension in Hulme, Manchester.

[17] Burgess won at the court of appeal, but the House of Lords overturned the decision, and the group was sent back to Sri Lanka.

Burgess and another lawyer travelled to Sri Lanka, located the group, gathered evidence of their mistreatment, and appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

[25] In another case initiated by Burgess, Chahal v. United Kingdom (1996), involving the deportation to India of a Sikh separatist, the ECHR ruled that Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights "provides an absolute prohibition of torture".

[1] Robert Winstanley left Winstanley-Burgess in 1996 to become a judge, and in August 2003 Burgess closed the company, blaming high costs and low legal aid payments.

The Law Society Gazette reported that the company, when it closed, consisted of five partners, three assistant solicitors, three caseworkers, two trainees, and 11 support staff.

[27][28] Burgess wrote in Independent Lawyer in 2003 that she was exhausted from "working 13-hour days, plus weekends, and earning about the same as a teacher", and that although "you'll be lucky to make a profit, let alone fund a pension, the media will shamelessly libel you as a legal aid millionaire.

As David, she worked for Luqmani Thompson & Partners, an immigration law firm, and for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

[40] In December 2011, a jury at the Old Bailey found Kanagasingham, who had schizophrenia, guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with an order that he serve at least seven years.