Public International Law

Public international law governs the relationship of States with one another. It may also directly affect multi-national companies or even private individuals. It covers areas such as:

• the law of the sea
• maritime and land boundaries
• the interpretation and application of treaties and other international agreements as well as customary international law
• the protection of foreign investment
• state and diplomatic immunity
• the protection of human rights through multilateral treaties (like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and European Convention on Human Rights)
• the law of international organisations
• the use of force
• state succession
• state responsibility
• the environment

20 Essex Street is well represented in public international law. One present and two former members of chambers have been principal Legal Advisers to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Others among us have been appointed Judges ad hoc of the International Court of Justice, President and members of North American Free Trade Association tribunals and members of tribunals under the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, and have been engaged as a legal adviser within the United Nations.

Members specialising in this area regularly provide legal and strategic advice to States and other parties and appear before English courts (at all levels) in cases in which issues of public international law arise, as well as before international courts and tribunals including:

• the International Court of Justice
• Dispute Settlement Panels of the World Trade Organisation
• the European Court of Human Rights
• the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
• international arbitral tribunals