Independent legal advice on complex questions of international law

Current Folio draws on more than fifteen years of experience in international legal research, policy and practice, working across universities, government and international institutions.

Bridging perspectives

My work has taken me across different sides of international legal and policy questions, from courts and governments to international organisations, NGOs and academia.

My experience of international dispute settlement comes from different institutional perspectives: I have worked within the International Court of Justice (ICJ), advised governments involved in proceedings before the International Tribunal (ITLOS) for the Law of the Sea, and contributed to institutional discussions at the European Commission on international litigation. Through extensive academic research, I have also examined these processes both critically and comparatively. This combination of perspectives has given me a particularly broad understanding of international dispute settlement, both in theory and in practice.

My work on fisheries and ocean governance is similarly characterised by experience across varied institutional settings and approaches. I have contributed to the application of international fisheries law at the European Commission and provided context for reflections on the future of institutional fisheries management for the Food and Agriculture Organization. I have also analysed EU fisheries policy for WWF and conducted extensive academic research on fisheries governance. This combination of experience has given me a broad understanding of how international rules are developed, applied and challenged in practice, and how legal questions interact with the policy, institutional and geopolitical realities in which they operate.

Connecting legal specializations

My work sits at the intersection of several closely connected areas of international law.

My research on fisheries, for example, has brought together the law of the sea and international environmental law, while also engaging with questions of compliance, transparency, institutional governance and settlement of disputes.

A related strand of my work has explored the concepts of use, non-use and multiple uses of shared resources and spaces, particularly in relation to Antarctica and the governance of global commons.

Working across these areas allows me to see legal questions in their wider context, to identify best practices that might be applicable in other fields, and to conceptually interrogate the fragmentary approach that often characterises international law.