Philippa Webb joins the Blavatnik School of Government as a Professor of Public International Law, following a career in legal practice at the United Nations Headquarters, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court. She is a fellow at Exeter College.

Her experience spans the fields of international disputes resolution, international criminal law and international humanitarian law, and she has particular expertise in state immunity. 

Professor Webb said:

“I am delighted to join the Blavatnik School of Government. The School’s vision of ‘a world better governed’ perfectly aligns with my research on how international law and policy can guide us through global challenges. I look forward to working with faculty, students and alumni to create a more just world by promoting human rights, enhancing peaceful dispute resolution and training agents of positive change."

Ngaire Woods, Founding Dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, said: 

“Philippa combines brilliant academic scholarship and inspiring teaching with legal practice that has real-world impact – for example, her recent case taken to the International Court of Justice on behalf of small island states. Her extraordinarily wide-ranging expertise and a depth of research is shaping vital debates on the global stage. We are thrilled that she will be joining us in September.”

 Biography

Her research interests span all of Public International Law, with particular expertise in international dispute settlement, human rights, international organizations law, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. She has been described as “the foremost expert on state immunity”. Her approach is to engage in comprehensive, often collaborative, research that informs and improves decision-making and contributes to better outcomes for the international community. Her current research concerns how national and global justice systems can support flourishing societies and uphold fundamental rights. 

Philippa has extensive experience in international and national courts, with prior roles including Special Assistant and Legal Officer to Judge Rosalyn Higgins GBE QC during her Presidency of the International Court of Justice and legal adviser to the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court. She is a barrister at Twenty Essex and appointed to the UK Attorney-General’s Public International Law Panel of Counsel. She regularly appears as counsel and advocate before the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal For the Law of the Sea, inter-State arbitral tribunals and the UK Supreme Court.

Her publications include: Freedom of Speech in International Law (2024, chapters on insulting speech and false speech, Amal Clooney & Lord David Neuberger KC, eds), The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law (2021, with Amal Clooney) Oppenheim’s International Law: United Nations (2017, with Dame Rosalyn Higgins GBE KC, D Akande, S Sivakumaran and J Sloan), The Law of State Immunity (2015, with Lady Fox KC), and International Judicial Integration and Fragmentation (2012, 2015). Her research has been funded by the British Academy, the Balzan Foundation, UNESCO, and the Nuffield Foundation and has been used by the United Nations to develop training for trial monitors around the world. Her scholarship been cited by the leading national courts in the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia and South Africa and has twice been awarded the top prize in international law publishing – the American Society of International Law’s Certificate of Merit.

Philippa was previously Professor of Public International Law at King’s College London and founding Co-Director of the Centre for International Governance and Dispute Resolution. She has held visiting positions at Columbia University, the Graduate Institutein Geneva, the Vienna Diplomatic Academy and Université Paris Nanterre. In 2023, she was the Director of Studies (English speaking section) of the Hague Academy of International Law for its centenary edition.

Philippa is a founding Board Member of the Clooney Foundation for Justice. She is a member of the Public International Law Advisory Panel of the British Institute of International & Comparative Law, an advisor to the American Law Institute’s Restatement of the Foreign Relations Law of the United States, a legal expert to the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, an advisor to the Tokyo International Law Seminar, and a member of a working group of the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law of the Council of Europe. She has served on the Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine and the Governing Board of the European Society of International Law.

Philippa speaks to the media on issues of international law and co-hosts the EJIL: Talk! Podcast. She serves on the editorial boards of the International & Comparative Law Quarterly, the Leiden Journal of International Law, the Journal of International Criminal Justice, the Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law and the Oxford University Undergraduate Law Journal. 

Philippa holds a doctorate (JSD) and an LLM from Yale Law School. She obtained the University Medal in her LLB and the University Medal and First Class Honours in her BA (Asian Studies – Advanced Japanese Studies), both of which were awarded by the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Philippa was previously Professor of Public International Law at King’s College London and founding Co-Director of the Centre for International Governance and Dispute Resolution. She has held visiting positions at Columbia University, the Graduate Institutein Geneva, the Vienna Diplomatic Academy and Université Paris Nanterre. In 2023, she was the Director of Studies (English speaking section) of the Hague Academy of International Law for its centenary edition.