The International Law as a Profession Series continues on 13 November 2019 with our guest speaker Helen Duffy, Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Leiden and Director of Human Rights in Practice.

Speaker’s Bio

Helen Duffy runs ‘Human Rights in Practice,’ an international legal practice specializing in strategic human rights litigation and advice. She is also Professor of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the University of Leiden.

Her legal practice addresses a broad range of human rights issues – including CIA rendition and torture, counter-terrorism, judicial independence, slavery/trafficking, equality and genocide – across regional and international human rights courts and bodies. Prior to setting up the practice in 2011, she held positions as: Legal Director, INTERIGHTS; Legal Officer, Prosecutors Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; Counsel on International Justice, Human Rights Watch; Legal Director, Centro para Accion Legal en Derechos Humanos Guatemala; Asst. Secretary, L.J. Scott’s Arms for Iraq inquiry; lawyer, UK government legal service.

Helen is a graduate of the Universities of Glasgow (LLB Hons) (where she is now honorary professor), University College London (LLM) and Leiden (PHD). She teaches in the universities of Melbourne and American university. Her publications include “The ‘War in Terror’ and the Framework of International law (CUP, 2nd ed. 2015) and ‘Strategic Human Rights Litigation: Understanding and Maximising Impact’ (Hart, 2018).

International Law as a Profession

The International Law as a Profession series offers the opportunity for students to hear a practitioner’s insight into the field of international law and into life beyond the University. The series invites international lawyers from a variety of backgrounds and specialisms to share their experiences and offer advice, and aims, as a result, to give students the information they need to make important decisions about the next steps in their own careers. Past speakers have included Nils Melzer (UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Geneva Academy Human Rights Chair and Professor of International Law), Angeline Welsh (Barrister, Matrix Chambers), Joanna Dingwall (former Solicitor in a leading international law firm), Joanna Keating (International Development Team, Scottish Government) and Paul McKell and Neil McDonald (Legal advisors, Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London).