Philippa Webb Co-Founder & Director of the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice. She is also Professor of Public International Law at the Blavatnik School of Government, and fellow of Exeter College, Oxford.

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), 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 Institute in 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.

Amal Clooney is a Professor of Practice in International Law at the Blavatnik School of Government and is co-founder of the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice (launching in October 2025). Amal is one of the leading human rights lawyers in the world. She is a preeminent advocate for genocide survivors, political prisoners and wrongfully detained journalists. Her contributions have been recognised by the Committee to Protect Journalists, the American Society of International Law, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, the Kings Trust and Time Magazine. Most recently, in 2024, she won the Legal 500 Award for international lawyer of the year.

Amal’s practice has included representing victims of sexual violence in the first trials in which ISIS members have been convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity. She represents over 800 ISIS victims in the first case in a US court seeking to hold ISIS financiers responsible for supporting the terror group. She has represented Armenia in a case involving the Armenian genocide and was counsel to over 100 victims of crimes against humanity in Darfur, Sudan, at the International Criminal Court. In 2022, Amal led a Legal Task Force that advised the government of Ukraine on legal avenues to secure accountability for war crimes and compensation for victims in Ukraine.

Amal frequently represents political prisoners and has helped to secure the freedom of journalists imprisoned for their work across the globe. Her work has included defending Reuters journalists who uncovered evidence of genocide in Myanmar, journalists covering protests in Egypt and a leading investigative journalist exposing corruption in Azerbaijan, all of whom were released following her work. She currently represents Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, who faces decades behind bars for her work as a journalist in the Philippines. Amal previously served as a rapporteur for the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute and as a member of the United Kingdom’s Team of Experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict zones. She has been appointed to the UK Attorney General’s Public International Law Panel of Counsel and as a Special Envoy by the former UK Foreign Secretary. She was also deputy chair of a Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, chaired by a former UK Supreme Court President, that has provided legal and policy advice to over 50 governments. She is a regular public speaker and has addressed the UN Security Council and General Assembly on multiple occasions.

In 2016, Amal co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which provides free legal aid in defence of free speech and women’s rights in over 40 countries. Its work has led to dozens of journalists being set free and thousands of women receiving free legal support to defend their rights, including their rights to freedom from abuse, economic discrimination and child marriage. In 2022, the Foundation partnered with the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance and Melinda French Gates to advance gender equality and reduce levels of child marriage worldwide. The Foundation also provides a fellowship program to help young women lawyers across Africa launch careers in human rights.

Amal was formerly a Visiting Professor at Columbia Law School. In 2020, she published, with Professor Philippa Webb, The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law. The book was awarded the American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit, the top prize in international law publishing. In 2021, they published a companion volume, The Right to a Fair Trial under Article 14 of the ICCPR, bringing together for the first time the complete travaux préparatoires to Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Both books have made a significant contribution to counsel and their clients across the world and have been cited in judicial proceedings including by the UK Supreme Court. In 2024, Amal published Freedom of Speech in International Law, with Lord David Neuberger, outlining the minimum protections for speech enshrined in international law, focusing on laws that are being weaponized to silence the press.

Amal holds law degrees from Oxford University and New York University School of Law and prior to joining the London bar, she practiced as a litigation attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York.

Lodovica Raparelli is Head of Research and Projects for the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice. She is a lawyer specialised in Public International Law, International Arbitration, and Legal Innovation, and a Ph.D. researcher at King’s College London. She holds an LL.M. in International Dispute Resolution from King’s College London and has several years of experience working in leading international law firms in London and Milan, where she focused on international dispute resolution, particularly investor-State and commercial arbitration, public international law, environmental law, and human rights. She has also served as a consultant to a barrister in a prominent set of chambers in London.

In recent years, Lodovica has expanded her work into the fields of legal design and legal innovation, with a particular focus on improving access to justice. Legal design is a human-centred approach to law that uses design thinking to make legal systems more accessible, understandable, and democratic—especially for individuals who may often feel excluded from traditional legal processes.

She has been invited to speak at numerous international events and academic forums on legal design and access to justice, including at the Conference on Access to Justice at UNSW Sydney, the International Legal Ethics Conference in Amsterdam, the LegalTechTalk in London, a Lecture on Public Law and Innovation at the University of Bologna, and a module on ADR and Innovation at the University of Milan “La Statale”.

She teaches Public International Law at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and previously taught at King’s College London.

Lodovica is also Project Manager and Junior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance and Dispute Resolution (CIGAD), which brings together academics, policymakers, and practitioners to address global challenges through international law and dispute resolution.

She is bilingual in English and Italian, speaks Spanish, and is admitted to the Italian Bar.

Emma Lindsay is an international lawyer with 20 years of experience in The Hague, Geneva, and New York, specializing in international arbitration, public international law and international human rights law. Most recently, Ms. Lindsay was a partner at the New York office of law firm Withers, where she was head of the firm’s international arbitration and public international law practice, in addition to leading their global pro bono practice. Ms. Lindsay was a founding member of CFJ’s Board of Directors and has led pro bono teams working with CFJ over many years.

While in private practice, Emma acted as counsel in proceedings before US courts including the US Supreme Court and international courts and tribunals including the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and various United Nations bodies. She also represented and advised governments, corporations, individuals and organizations on public international law. In addition to her work as counsel, Emma sat as an arbitrator in international commercial disputes.

Throughout her career, Emma has worked with educational and philanthropic organizations on international human rights law. Emma taught public international law and international criminal law at the New School University. She serves on the Board of Directors of Synchronicity Earth USA and previously served as chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Charter School of New York. She has worked with the Center for Reproductive Rights on strategic human rights litigation and advocacy in Africa, Latin America and the United States. She served on the Board of Directors of the Clooney Foundation for Justice since its inception and has led law firm pro bono teams working with CFJ’s TrialWatch and Docket programs, including on Ukraine and Venezuela. Emma graduated with a law degree from Oxford University and has an LLM in international law from New York University.

David Sagal is the former General Counsel at Warner Bros. Pictures, where he also spent time as an attorney specializing in corporate and finance law and as a business affairs and finance executive. Mr. Sagal has worked in Mumbai, Singapore, New York, and Los Angeles and previously served as chairman of the board of the NGO, The Sentry. He is currently the chairman of the pro bono committee of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, where he also serves on the Board and the Executive Committee.

David worked for Warner Bros. Pictures for 28 years serving in various capacities, including as General Counsel, where he oversaw management of the legal department, and head of the Financial Investments and Acquisitions business unit, charged with establishing, operating, and managing Warner’s joint ventures and affiliated production companies. Areas of experience include complex financial transactions, intellectual property protection and management, defamation defense, and HR management.  Prior to joining Warner Bros., David worked for the law firm Coudert Brothers in Singapore and Los Angeles, and as a banker with Chemical Bank in Mumbai and New York. David previously was elected to the Governing Board of the La Canada Unified School District, serving as President during his term, and served on the Board of Directors of the NGO The Sentry, serving as its chairman.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors of LAFLA as well as on the Executive Committee, and on the Board of the USC/Verdugo Hills Hospital where he has served as Treasurer.  David served as Scoutmaster of Troop 509 for several years and leads a jazz quartet that performs around the LA area.  David has a BA in Political Science and Chinese from UC Berkeley, a Masters in East Asian Studies from Harvard, and a JD from USC.  David is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Perri Lyons is the Director of Operations and Strategy at the Office of Amal Clooney and the co-lead of the Justice for Women initiative at the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice.

Perri is an operations strategist and project manager with over a decade of experience driving high-impact legal and human rights initiatives in the nonprofit sector. As Director of Operations and Strategy Perri supports Ms. Clooney’s legal advocacy, overseeing the coordination and delivery of complex legal cases and international justice projects. She also contributed legal research to Freedom of Speech in International Law (Clooney & Neuberger, eds., OUP, 2024). 

Perri is also a trustee at Bounds Green Food Bank. She previously worked the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, where she led the Secretariat for the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom, an independent body convened at the request of the UK and Canadian governments to provide advice to governments to prevent and reverse abuses of media freedom. She previously served as Project and Operations Manager at King’s College London Students’ Union and began her career at the British Red Cross. 

Perri holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) from Essex University, where she contributed to projects with the United Nations and Amnesty International as a member of the Digital Verification Unit. She earned her undergraduate degree in Cultural and Historical Studies from the University of Brighton.

Alice Gardoll is the Director of Legal Strategy and Impact at the Clooney Foundation for Justice. Prior to joining CFJ, Alice served as Chief of Staff to Amal Clooney, supporting her legal advocacy globally.

Alice has spent her career defending and amplifying the voices of journalists, victims of human rights abuses, asylum seekers and incarcerated individuals. She is the Assistant Editor of Freedom of Speech in International Law (Oxford University Press, 2024), and contributed as the author of three chapters. She was a member of the international legal team representing Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and renowned journalist Maria Ressa. At the international human rights organization Reprieve, she specialized in arbitrary and unlawful detention. She has practised as a public defender representing Aboriginal Australians in the remote Northern Territory and as a refugee lawyer in Australia and Greece. She also sits on the Management Committee of RACS Australia (the Refugee Advice & Casework Service). Alice began her career as a clerk to the President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC, now the 39^th Governor of New South Wales. She has also worked as a commercial litigator at Herbert Smith Freehills.

Alice holds a Bachelor of Arts / Laws (LL.B) with First Class Honors from the University of Sydney and a Master of Laws (LL.M) from Columbia Law School, where she was a Fulbright Scholar.

Alisha Mathew is a Legal Director at the Office of Amal Clooney and the co-lead of the Justice for Journalists initiative at the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice. Alisha specialises in international law and human rights, and advocates for accountability and justice in situations of genocide, widespread sexual violence and other egregious human rights violations. Alisha has worked to hold ISIS members accountable for crimes committed during the Yazidi genocide, including in a civil case in the U.S. on behalf of hundreds of Yazidi-Americans against a multinational corporation that provided support to ISIS. Alisha has also been involved in advising States in proceedings before the International Court of Justice.

Prior to this role, Alisha was a lawyer in an international law firm representing governments and corporations in international arbitrations, advising on issues of public international law, business, and human rights. Alisha previously worked for various not-for-profit organisations, advising governments in United Nations treaty negotiations for a new agreement on the oceans, managing casework for a national pro bono program, and surveying anti-human trafficking efforts in Cambodia. She holds a Master of Laws (L.L.M) from Columbia Law School, as well as a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of International Studies from the University of New South Wales

Sara Wahedi is a Research Associate (Technology Specialist) with the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice. She is also Chief Executive Officer of Civaam, a civic-tech startup focused on building innovative technological solutions for crisis regions, designed and developed by local technologists. 

Sara previously interned with Apple’s AIML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) team in Cupertino and Seattle, on projects focused on user-centred design. Sara’s commitment to leveraging technology for social impact has earned her numerous accolades, including TIME Magazine's Next Generation Leader, MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35, and Forbes' 30 Under 30. In 2023, she was also recognised as One Young World's Entrepreneur of the Year.

At the Blavatnik School of Government, she is focusing on the intersections of technology and law, exploring how innovation can drive accountability mechanisms in regions where evidence collection is restricted.

Daisy is the Research Associate in International Law at the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice, conducting research across all three Pillars of the Institute’s work. Her expertise spans general international law, State responsibility, and human rights. She holds a Law LLB from King’s College London (First Class Honours) where she was awarded the Jelf Medal. After graduating from King’s, Daisy completed the Bachelor of Civil Law at Magdalen College, University of Oxford (Distinction). She is a current DPhil Candidate in international law at Magdalen College, funded by the AHRC-OOC DTP Studentship. 

Daisy has a particular interest in State immunity, having published on the immunity of individuals and States under international law. She has also competed in and coached for international mooting competitions, such as the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition (at both the national and international rounds) and the Nelson Mandela World Human Rights Moot. She has been a visiting lecturer at King’s College London. 

Daisy has contributed to research papers by the Open Society Justice Initiative, European Parliamentary Research Service, as well as Redress and the Clooney Foundation for Justice. 

Sabra Noordeen is the Chief of Staff for the CFJ’s Executive Leadership Team. Prior to joining CFJ, she served as Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Special Envoy for Climate Change (2021 – 2023), and the Secretary for Foreign Relations (2018 – 2021) at the President’s Office.

She previously served as a political aide in the office of former President Nasheed, lobbying and coordinating strategies with local and international partners for his release from arbitrary detention. She also worked as a director and intelligence analyst at the Maldives Police Service. Sabra has worked in many capacities in areas  encompassing international relations, human rights, public policy and political activism.

Sabra holds a Msc. in State, Society and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London and a BA. in International Relations and Anthropology from the University of Sussex.

Kate Levine is a Senior Legal Program Manager at the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s TrialWatch initiative. Prior to joining the Foundation, Kate worked for the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre as a Lawyer and Senior Legal Consultant for over ten years, challenging human rights violations in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Kate conducted strategic litigation and advocacy before the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations, challenging state repression of critical voices, civilians impacted by inter-state conflict, and state responsibility for gender-based discrimination. Kate has also consulted for the Council of Europe on gender discrimination projects in Georgia and is a member of the Council of Europe network of specialised lawyers assisting victims of gender-based violence. Kate has experience with grant making and impact assessment, having worked as a Human Rights Programme Officer for the Sigrid Rausing Trust. Kate started her legal career as an international disputes lawyer with a global law firm in London after qualifying as a UK solicitor in 2009. Kate holds an LLM, LLB (Hons), and a BA (Hons) Philosophy and Politics, and speaks fluent English and French.