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Jill was called to the Bar in 1989 and is a member of Gray’s Inn.
Jill Barrett is Visiting Reader in the School of Law at Queen Mary University of London, where she teaches public international law to postgraduate students. She also works as an independent consultant in public international law. She is currently Research Consultant to the Centre for International Law, Singapore, engaged on a project to deliver training in treaty law and procedures to government and international organisation officials in the Southeast Asian region and publish a handbook on this subject. Jill also advises on questions of treaty law and practice in relation to international investment treaty disputes and provides expert evidence in treaty arbitrations.
Until recently, Jill was the Arthur Watts Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law at BIICL, where she designed and led the Watts programme of international law research and events. She specialises in the law and practice of treaties, the polar regions, international environmental law and law of the sea. Her recent publications include Barrett and Barnes (eds), Law of the Sea: UNCLOS as a Living Treaty, (BIICL 2016); ‘Securing the Polar Regions through international law’ in Footer et al (eds) Security and International Law (Hart 2016); and Barrett et al, Report on the Obligations of States under Articles 74(3) and 83(3) of UNCLOS in respect of Undelimited Maritime Areas, BIICL 2016. She was Visiting Professor in International Law at Kobe University, Japan, in 2013.
Jill was previously Legal Counsellor at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. During her 20-year FCO career she advised on legal aspects of UK foreign policy, and represented the UK at the United Nations and a variety of international conferences including Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, CCAMLR, London Convention, International Whaling Commission, and the UN Commission on Environment and Development. She was Deputy Agent for the UK in the Mox Plant cases brought by Ireland under UNCLOS and the OSPAR Convention. Before joining the FCO, she was Lecturer in Law at SOAS, London University, specialising in the People’s Republic of China, and Lecturer in Law at Durham University.
LLM from Cambridge University (First Class)
BA Hons in Law from Durham University (First Class).
July 2020
Jill Barrett advises new International Agreements Committee of the House of Lords
In April this year Parliament set up its first ever treaty committee, to improve scrutiny of the UK’s increased treaty-making since leaving the EU. Chaired by Lord Goldsmith QC, its formal name is the 'International Agreements Sub-Committee’ as it is, for now, a sub-committee of the European ...
read moreApril 2020
Handbook on Good Treaty Practice
We're pleased to announce publication of the 'Handbook on Good Treaty Practice’ by Jill Barrett and Robert Beckman. Published by Cambridge University Press, it is available now in hardback, paperback and electronic formats. The Handbook provides practical guidance on good treaty practice, with ...
read moreMarch 2020
Parliament and Brexit - a new Report
A report on "Parliament and Brexit’ was published today by UK in a Changing Europe. It explores the role Parliament has played to date on Brexit, as well as the challenges and opportunities it is likely to face during phase two of the UK-EU negotiations. Some of the country’s leading experts ...
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