He is Vice-President of the International Association of Constitutional Law (IACL) and a member of the South African Young Academy of Sciences in 2015 and recognised by the SA research foundation as an internationally acclaimed researcher.  He has a BA (Hons) LLB cum laude from Wits University and a MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge. He publishes widely in the field of constitutional and fundamental rights law, has co-edited books and published journal articles in his subject areas, including: Socio-Economic Rights,  Business and Human Rights, Animal Rights, Lesbian and Gay Rights, Rights Theory.

David is very involved in the Jewish community:  he is a co-founder of Limmud SA, was chair of Limmud international and served on Limmud Global board. He was vice-chairperson of Beit Emanuel Progressive Synagogue. David is an educator and part of Melton faculty where he has taught Rhythms, Ethics and Jewish Medical Ethics. He is the founder of Jewish OutLook: the SA Jewish LGBTI alliance.