EU and international
Barristers specialising in this area may appear before the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, international tribunals (ICSID, ICC and LCIA), domestic courts and other international tribunals. Matters that may be under dispute include the interpretation of treaties, state responsibility, international investment law, the environment and human rights. Having studied public international law at undergraduate and postgraduate level and taught the subject for several years at Oxford, Jessica Wells decided that it was time to put her expertise into practice and train as a barrister. “I couldn’t see myself in a big City firm,” she explains. “It was mainly the independence and variety of the Bar that appealed to me.” Jessica completed her pupillage at Essex Court Chambers – an experience which she describes as “rigorous, but very fair. The chambers were very supportive; we knew exactly what we had to do and when decisions were being taken.” Now a tenant at Essex Court, Jessica has developed several areas of expertise, as is the case for many barristers – but it was Essex Court’s strength in public international law which attracted her to apply there, and this area forms a significant part of her practice today. From the start, Jessica was fortunate to be brought into several international cases with senior members of the chambers – including the opportunity to address the International Court of Justice while she was still a pupil: “That was an amazing experience, which I could never have expected to come along so early in my career.” In 2013 Jessica had the privilege of being appointed to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s newly formed public international law panel of counsel, from which the UK
government selects barristers to instruct in international cases. As such, she receives a lot of her work from the government, which has resulted in what she identifies as her undoubted career highlight to date: “I was really fortunate to be part of a team of counsel representing the UK in a case that was brought against it by the Marshall Islands, alleging that the UK and other states were in breach of their obligations relating to nuclear disarmament. We had a hearing in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in March 2016 – the opportunity to represent your own state in the ICJ is pretty special.” The great thing about these cases is that they often involve really big issues that have important political consequences, whichmakes them really exciting and interesting to be involved in, and you learn a lot about the process of government and issues which really matter Wide-ranging work Public international law is unlike some other areas of the Bar in terms of the amount of time spent in court. “For example, barristers practising in personal injury will be in court a lot of the time,” Jessica explains. In public international law, on the other hand, the scale and complexity of cases mean that “there’s less court work – there is a lot of paperwork, a lot of research, a lot of preparation for hearings.” The practice area is also incredibly varied, involving work both at home and abroad: “I work on international law cases in the domestic courts – they seem to come up more and more frequently now – as well as hearings in international tribunals, like the
For more chambers that work in this practice area, please use the ‘Pupillage index’.
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