Jill Barrett

Arthur Watts Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law,

Jill Barrett joined the Institute in August 2010 as the Senior Research Fellow in Public International Law (Dorset Fellow) from the Legal Adviser's team at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where she was a Legal Counsellor. Her role at the Institute is to lead and develop the research and events programme in public international law, and she brings to this role over twenty years' experience of advising on legal aspects of foreign policy, negotiating international agreements and representing the United Kingdom abroad.

As Senior Research Fellow Jill has developed several new funded research projects for the Institute, including a review of the duties and powers of British consular officers and a comparative study on the treatment of classified information in civil litigation. She has initiated collaboration with the Centre for International Law in Singapore, and is working with the Centre to launch a new project on Best Treaty Practice focusing on national treaty practices including the drafting, processing, signing, ratification and implementation of treaties, depositary functions and the management of treaty records and publications. Her article on The United Kingdom and Parliamentary Scrutiny of Treaties: Recent Reforms has been published in the ICLQ and forthcoming publications include articles on secondary law-making under treaties and new developments in Antarctic and Arctic governance.

During her FCO career, Jill's responsibilities included advising on public international law, EU and UK law on a wide range of subjects, such as treaties, international organisations, environment and energy, Polar Regions, Overseas Territories, devolution/foreign affairs, sanctions, human rights, shipping and law of the sea, and on various countries and regions, such as Africa, China & Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South America. Most recently, she led the Government's work on creating a new statutory regime for parliamentary scrutiny of treaties, resulting in enactment of the provisions on Ratification of Treaties in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. She also led the FCO's legal work on the Draft Antarctic Bill, published in 2009, to implement the Antarctic Environmental Liability Annex which she negotiated on behalf of the United Kingdom from 2002 to its adoption in 2005.

Jill acted as Deputy Agent for the United Kingdom in the Ireland v UK Mox Plant Cases under UNCLOS and the OSPAR Convention (2001-2008). She represented the United Kingdom at a variety of international organisations and conferences, such as the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting, Commission on the Conservation of Antarctic Living Marine Resources, London Convention (on pollution of the Marine Environment), International Whaling Commission, European Energy Charter, Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, UN Commission on Environment and Development, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group on Hong Kong.

As a senior manager, she masterminded the launch of the new FCO Legal Information Group in 2008, and led the Group to develop new ways of delivering legal information, knowledge management and treaty services to the Government and the public.

She was posted to the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations, New York from 1994 to 1997, where, as First Secretary (Legal) she represented the UK on UN bodies, including the General Committee and the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the General Assembly, Security Council, Charter Committee, Host Country Committee; and was responsible for the Mission's work on sanctions, treaties, law of the sea, Antarctica and UN elections to certain legal posts.

Previously Jill was Lecturer in Law at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London, specialising in the laws of the People's Republic of China, and Lecturer in Law at the University of Durham.