Alison Macdonald KC

Alison has an extensive practice in public international law, arbitration, human rights and criminal law,  in both domestic and international courts and tribunals. She is described in the legal directories as “one of the smartest, most charming advocates at the Bar”, with “killer litigation instincts”, and as “an intellectual giant” who “works incredibly hard [and] is very cool under pressure”. Clients consider her to be “a superstar”; a “brilliant oral advocate who performs exceptionally well before the most prestigious international courts and arbitral tribunals”, and “the consummate professional”. As well as her legal skills, she is “adored by clients”, “very responsive”, and “a true team player”.

Early in her career, Alison was named as one of the ‘Future Stars of the Bar’ by The Times (2008); on appointment as Queen’s Counsel in 2017 she was selected as a ‘star silk’ by The Lawyer. In 1999 she was elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. Alison is recommended in the leading UK legal directories in six areas: (1) public international law; (2) international arbitration; (3) international human rights law; (4) civil liberties and human rights; (5) administrative and public law; and (6) business and regulatory crime. She is also listed in Chambers Global as a leading silk in the field of public international law, is named in Who’s Who Legal: Arbitration as a leader in the field of international arbitration, and was nominated by the Legal 500 Bar Awards as Public International Law Silk of the Year in 2022 and 2023, and as International Arbitration Silk of the Year in 2024.

Professor Dapo Akande

Professor Akande is the Chichele Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a member of the United Nations International Law Commission. He acts as counsel, adviser, consultant or expert on international law for states, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, corporations and individuals. Professor Akande has acted as counsel, advocate, adviser or consultant in a variety of cases and accepts arbitral appointments.

He has acted in disputes before a wide range of international tribunals. Notable cases as counsel include:

  • at the International Court of Justice, the Chagos Advisory Opinion (for Zambia), the Armed Activities Case (DRC v Uganda, for Uganda); Land and Maritime Delimitation and Sovereignty over Islands (Gabon/Equatorial Guinea, for Equatorial Guinea) and the Genocide Convention Case (Gambia v Myanmar, for the UK as intervenor);
  • in the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights – Hanan v Germany (for the applicant)
  • the first inter-state case at the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, DRC v Rwanda (for Rwanda)
  • at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the San Padre Pio case (for Nigeria)

He has acted as expert and adviser in disputes before international arbitral tribunals in mixed disputes, World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Area Dispute Settlement panels. He has also acted as adviser or expert in cases in national courts in the UK (including the Supreme Court), the US and Australia. In 2019 he was appointed as international law expert for the Public Inquiry into Operation Burnham (established by New Zealand Government) which  dealt with the conduct of New Zealand Defence Forces in military operations in Afghanistan.

In addition to his work in disputes, Dapo is regularly instructed to provide advice on questions of international law to governments and international organizations (including United Nations bodies, the African Union Commission, the Commonwealth Secretariat and ASEAN.) He is or has recently been a member of the

  • the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on International Law (United States Department of State)
  • the UK Ministry of Defence AI Ethics Advisory Panel;
  • the Ukrainian Presidential Working Group on compensation for damage caused to Ukraine as a result of the armed aggression by the Russian Federation;
  • the ICRC’s Global Advisory Board on Digital Threats During Conflict.
  • UK Parliament’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Drone’s inquiry into the Use of Armed Drones (Legal Adviser to the Inquiry 2017/18)
  • the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Human Rights (2016-18)

Dapo is one of the authors of Oppenheim’s International Law: The United Nations (2017, OUP), which was awarded the 2019 Certificate of Merit by the American Society of International Law. He is one of the editors of the Oxford Guide to International Humanitarian Law (2020, OUP); of Human Rights and 21st Century Challenges: Poverty, Conflict and the Environment (2020, OUP), and of Practitioners Guide to the Application of Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict (2016, OUP). He was a member of the International Advisory Panel for the American Law Institute’s project on the Restatement Fourth, The Foreign Relations Law of the United States (2018).

Dapo is frequently asked to speak to the media on issues of international law and has been invited to address several international bodies including the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, and the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI) of the Council of Europe.

Naomi Hart

Naomi has a diverse practice in international, commercial, public and human rights law. She was identified as one of the Hot 100 by The Lawyer in 2023. She has appeared in the major directories for several years, with listings in Public International Law, International Arbitration, and International Human Rights Law.

Naomi’s commercial practice encompasses civil fraud, conflict of laws, shipping and general commercial disputes. She acts as junior and sole counsel, having recently appeared in the Court of Appeal, the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division and the King’s Bench Division (including the Administrative Court). She has also been involved in cases before the courts of the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Mauritius, Sweden, Türkiye, Norway, Australia and Malaysia (among others). Her commercial arbitration experience includes proceedings under the DIFC, LCIA, ICC, PCA, SCC, ICSID, UNCITRAL and LMAA Rules.

Naomi has an extensive practice in public international law. She has acted in six cases before the International Court of Justice as well as in proceedings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization. She is routinely involved in cases before English and foreign domestic courts which involve questions of public international law as well as in investor-State disputes. Across this range of cases, she has advised and acted for governments, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and private parties on matters relating to territorial delimitation, self-determination, the law of the sea, occupation of territory, war crimes, genocide, privileges and immunities, climate change, international administrative law, sanctions, international trade law, the act of State doctrine, and inter-State espionage. She also has a wide human rights practice before English, international and foreign domestic courts, much of which is pro bono.

Naomi attained a doctorate from the University of Cambridge on the topic of espionage and public international law, for which she was awarded the Faculty of Law’s Yorke Prize for a thesis “of exceptional quality, which makes a substantial contribution to its relevant field of legal knowledge”. She has published widely on human rights, international refugee law, investor-State arbitration and general international law.

In 2020, Naomi was appointed to both the Public International Law C Panel of Junior Counsel and the Attorney General’s London C Panel of Civil Counsel. She is also a Trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and a member of the Bar Council’s International Committee.

Naomi is admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales. At the University of Sydney, she received First Class Honours in her Law degree (ranking second in her year) and the University Medal and First Class Honours in History (ranking first in her year).