Laura Rees-Evans

Laura’s practice focuses on contentious and non-contentious aspects of public international law (PIL) and international arbitration. Laura advises on a wide range of PIL issues, including international investment law; international human rights law; the law of the sea; statehood and sovereignty issues; treaty interpretation; and UN procedure. Laura is widely recognised in the leading legal directories for her expertise in these fields.

She represents State clients in inter-State proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). She has also advised clients in proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Laura acts for claimant investors and respondent States in complex and high-value international investment arbitrations across a range of industry sectors, and has experience of all the major arbitral rules (ICSID, SCC, UNCITRAL). Laura also regularly advises on PIL issues before domestic courts (including, in particular, State immunity issues, recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards, and set-aside proceedings).

Laura has delivered numerous training courses to officials of State clients and lectures at academic and other institutions on topics of PIL and international arbitration; and frequently publishes on these topics. Laura has recently been appointed, for a five year term, to the UK Attorney General’s PIL Panel, members of which advise the UK Government on PIL matters and undertake cases involving PIL in international courts and in the courts of the UK. She is a Member of the PIL Advisory Panel of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL)), and an inaugural Honorary International Law Practice Fellow of BIICL. She is a member of the International Law Association (ILA) (British Branch) and a Member of the ILA Committee on Protection of People at Sea. In 2018-2019, Laura spent six months at the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advising the British Government on PIL issues arising out of Brexit.