Philippa Webb

About/Bio

Philippa Webb is Professor of Public International Law at King’s College London and a barrister at Twenty Essex Chambers. 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: 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 19 – “From Russia With War: Part Deux”

In this episode Marko Milanovic, Dapo Akande and Philippa Webb are joined by Oona Hathaway (Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School) to discuss big legal issues arising from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, one year on.

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EJIL:The Podcast! Episode 18 – “Be Careful What You Ask For”

In this episode Dapo Akande, Marko Milanovic and Philippa Webb are joined by Philippe Sands (University College London and 11KBW) and Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh (University of Amsterdam and University of the South Pacific). The focus is on the advisory function of international courts and tribunals. In December 2022, the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International…

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The Weakest Link of the Troika? The Immunity of Heads of Government in Customary International Law

There have been a flurry of cases in the English courts concerning foreign leaders in recent months. Permission has been granted to serve the President of Mozambique in a case involving claims challenging state guarantees of the financing for projects in Mozambique. The Fifth President of Ukraine (2014-2019) Petro Poroshenko has been found to be immune…

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