Philippa Webb

About/Bio

Philippa Webb is Professor of Public International Law at the University of Oxford, Blavatnik School of Government, and a barrister at Twenty Essex. Previously, she served as the Special Assistant and Legal Officer to Judge Rosalyn Higgins GBE QC during her Presidency of the International Court of Justice and held positions in the International Criminal Court and United Nations Headquarters. Her publications include: Freedom of Speech in International Law 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 (OUP 2020, with Amal Clooney) with the accompanying travaux préparatoires to Article 14 of the ICCPR (2021), Oppenheim's International Law: United Nations (2017, with Rosalyn Higgins, Dapo Akande, Sandy Sivakumaran, and James Sloan), The Law of State Immunity (2105, with Lady Hazel Fox QC) and International Judicial Integration and Fragmentation (2015). She is a regular contributor to EJIL: The Podcast!

Recently Published

EJIL: The Podcast! Episode 39: Holding the Line

In this episode, Philippa Webb (Oxford) and Marko Milanovic (Reading) are joined by Nicolas Angelet (Ghent) and Oona Hathaway (Yale) to discuss the legality of the US strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and the additional threats made by the United States against Venezuela, which include a possible land invasion.

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Six Viewpoints on the Future of the International Legal Order and the Role of International Courts

It has become trite to question the role and meaning of international law in a world where it is being flouted – often flagrantly – on a daily basis. President Trump’s second term has prompted cries of the “demolition”, “death” or “end” of the post-WWII international legal order. Among lawyers, views are divided…

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Co-Party Status to Armed Conflict and the Rise of Artificial Intelligence

Editor's note: This post is part of a book discussion on Alexander Wentker’s “Party Status to Armed Conflict in International Law". I explore in this post how the use of AI-based Decision Support Systems (AI-DSS) could disrupt the three criteria developed by Alexander Wentker for identifying co-parties to an armed conflict. I first set out…

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