Interests
General international law, State responsibility, the law of necessity, law on the use of force, self-defence, history of international law, genealogy of legal concepts in international law, exceptions
CV / Biography
Abogado (cum laude), Universidad Católica Andrés Bello, Caracas - Venezuela; LLM in international law (first class honours, Clive Parry Prize for International Law) and PhD (Yorke Prize), University of Cambridge; Post-Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGDipLATHE), University of Oxford.
I am a general international lawyer, and my main research interests are the law of State responsibility, the law on the use of force, and international investment law. I am also interested in the history of international law, especially the ‘long’ 19th century, and the legal theory and practice of exceptions. My work has been published in leading international law journals, including the British Yearbook of International Law, the European Journal of International Law and the Leiden Journal of International Law. A monograph based on my PhD dissertation, Justification and Excuse in International Law: Concept and Theory of General Defences, was published by CUP in 2018.
Before arriving at Cambridge, I worked for Baker&McKenzie (Caracas office) as a law-clerk and a paralegal in the criminal law and labour law departments. I am a member of Blackstone Chambers Academic Research Panel.
Admitted to practice in Venezuela, as a member of the Caracas (Distrito Federal) Bar.
Teaching:
Supervisions in International Law (Part IB and Part II), and Criminal Law (Part IA)
Small-group teaching on self-defence in the Law of Armed Conflict, Use of Force and Peacekeeping (LLM) paper
Director of Studies at Queens’ College (Part IA)
Other appointments and affiliations:
International Law Association (British Branch) - Director of Studies (2018- )
Journal of the Use of Force in International Law - Digest of State Practice Regional Co-ordinator (2018-2020)
Lauterpacht Centre for International Law - Management Committee (2016-2020)
Blackstone Chambers - Member of the Academic Research Panel (2015- )
History of International Law Research Group, Tilburg University - Associate member (2014- )
Universidad de La Sabana (Chía, Bogota, Colombia), Master’s program in International Law - External Professor (March 2014-2016)
Scholarships and Awards
2015: Yorke Prize (Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge), in recognition of the ‘exceptional quality’ of PhD dissertation ‘which makes a substantial contribution to its field of legal knowledge’
2009-2014: Maria Luisa de Sanchez (Girton College, University of Cambridge) and Cambridge European Trusts Scholar
2008: Clive Parry Prize in International Law (Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge)
Publications
Books
Exceptions in International Law (forthcoming) (with L Bartels) (eds) (OUP, 2020)
Protecting Children in Armed Conflict (with Shaheed Fatima QC (lead author)) (Hart Publishing, 2018)
Justification and Excuse in International Law: Concept and Theory of General Defences (CUP, 2018)
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