Sir David Steel was educated at Eton College and at Keble College, Oxford, where he studied law. He was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1966, but spent two years at a US law firm in New York before starting practice. He became a tenant at 2 Essex Court (now Quadrant Chambers) and specialised in commercial and, in particular, Admiralty, litigation. He was became Queen's Counsel in 1981. From 1990 to 1991, he was the first Chair of the Commercial Bar Association. He sat as a commercial and Admiralty arbitrator and as a Wreck Commissioner while at the Bar, and was a Recorder and a Deputy High Court Judge before his appointment to the Queen's Bench Division in 1998. Nominated to sit in the Commercial Court, he was Judge In Charge from 2006 to 2007. He served as the Admiralty Judge throughout his judicial career. He was also a Presiding Judge on the Western Circuit from 2002 to 2006. After retiring from the Bench in 2011 and resuming practice as an arbitrator, he also sat as a Judge of the Dubai International Financial Centre Court.

Sir David enjoys golf, fishing, and the theatre.