Ben Emmerson, Q.C.
Partner Trial and Global Disputes / International Arbitration and Litigation
London: +44 20 7551 2130 [email protected]
Ben Emmerson CBE QC is a specialist leading counsel in public international law and international corporate risk management, as a partner in the firm’s London office. He joins King & Spalding as the Global Head of Public International Law.
Emmerson is an accomplished courtroom advocate with 35 years’ experience representing sovereign States, as well as individual and corporate clients before international courts and tribunals, including more than 20 cases in the UK Supreme Court and its predecessor the House of Lords, and more than 30 cases at the European Court of Human Rights. Emmerson was previously a member at Doughty Street Chambers before founding Matrix Chambers in 2000, the same year he was awarded Queen’s Counsel (QC) status. He was most recently at Monckton Chambers. A versatile litigator, he has appeared at the highest appellate levels, in numerous leading cases, across a range of disciplines within public international law and international criminal law, including territorial disputes, the law of armed conflict, national security, international criminal law, sanctions law, international criminal cartel and bribery investigations, and international human rights law.
Emmerson was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list last month for services to international law. He previously served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and as a judge of the UN International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia. He has also served as a Deputy High Court Judge. He is a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple, a Visiting Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford. He also holds an honorary PhD from the University of Bristol. Emmerson is highly-ranked in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.
Matters
Public International Law
Represented claimants in the landmark case Osman v United Kingdom, (2000)
Represented Smith and Grady v United Kingdom , (2000) 29 EHRR 493, in a challenge to the UK government's ban on homosexuals serving in the British armed forces
1 www.kslaw.com 1 Represented McGonnell v UK (2000) 30 EHRR 289 which eventually led to the creation of the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court
Representing Fogarty v United Kingdom (2002) 24 EHRR 12, concerning a claim by a former employee of the US Embassy in London who had been prevented from pursuing an employment law dispute with the Embassy, when the US Government asserted both diplomatic and State immunity
Represented the British Government in two cases where he defended the Government against a claim alleging that the United Kingdom’s broad protection of Parliamentary privilege is a violation of the right of access to court under Article 6 of the European Convention
Representing the successful legal challenge to the counter-terrorism measures enacted by the Government of Prime Minister Tony Blair following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States
Represented successfully in the House of Lords that the detention of terrorist suspects could not be justified by reference to evidence obtained by acts of torture committed abroad by the agents of a foreign state
Represented the Government at the European Court of Human Rights in the national security context concerning a terrorist murder in which a number of innocent people were killed or injured and acted as lead counsel concerning the procedure for determining allegations of criminal contempt of court
Appeared as lead counsel in many of the major cases in the European Court of Human Rights challenging public order and counter-terrorism measures introduced by the British Government
Represented Ramush Haradinaj, the former Prime Minister of Kosovo, on war crimes charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, concerning the conflict of 1998 and 1999
Represented Croatia in its inter-State case against Serbia at the International Court of Justice under the 1948 Genocide Convention
Represented Mohamed Nasheed – the first democratically elected President of the Maldives, who was deposed and then imprisoned by the regime of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, leading to his appointment as international envoy for the Maldives opposition in a dialogue initiative at the United Nations
Represented Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont, to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, arguing that the Government of Spain had violated his right to participate in political life through a "repressive" legal crackdown, following an independence referendum in Catalonia in October 2017
Represented Georgia in an inter-State case against the Russian Federation, alleging that Russian forces and their proxies in the separatist movements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia committed war crimes during the invasion of Georgia in 2008, and the subsequent occupation of Georgian territory
Represented the Government of Ukraine in a series of inter-State case against Russia arising out of the 2014 occupation and purported annexation of Crimea; the promotion of territorial dispute and armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine (Donbas) and the downing to Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014
International Corporate Defense and Risk Management
2 www.kslaw.com 2 Represented “Guinness Four”, in seeking to overturn their convictions for market manipulation offences, allegedly committed through the adoption of a share support scheme, aimed at artificially inflating the share price of Guinness PLC prior to a take-over of Distillers
Represented Shailesh Vithlani the intermediary agent allegedly used by BAE systems to pay £12 million in bribes to officials in Tanzania in order to secure contracts for the supply of sophisticated Air Traffic Control equipment to the Government of Tanzania
Represented four British Airways executives in the first criminal cartel prosecution in the United Kingdom, brought by the Office of Fair Trading arising out of an alleged price-fixing agreement between Virgin and British Airways in connection with the “passenger fuel surcharge” on translantic flights
Devised the legal strategy that secured the collapse of the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the business affairs of property tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz
Representing Low Taek Jho, the Malaysian financier alleged to be responsible for widescale fraud at 1MDB, an investment vehicle used by Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund
Representing a number of internationally high-profile investors who have been the subject of bogus fraud allegations made by the Russian Federation for political reasons, and pursued internationally through Interpol
Representing companies on their liabilities arising out of international, regional and unilateral sanctions
Business and Human Rights Law
Representing Google’s AI subsidiary DeepMind, developing a framework for the application of international law, and particularly international human rights law, to the development of AI technology
Representing Facebook on its obligations under international human rights law and international criminal law, in connection with the misuse of its platform for spreading hate speech and inciting ethnic violence against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar
Representing Swedish oil company Lundin in connection with an ongoing prosecution in Sweden for aiding and abetting war crimes committed in Sudan, arising from the company’s continuing operations during the civil war in the country
Acting in connection with the French prosecution of cement company Lafarge for paying protection money to ISIS in Syria. The company is charged with financing terrorism and aiding and abetting crimes against humanity
National Security
Represented numerous terrorism cases in the United Kingdom and elsewhere
Representing governments and companies on national security questions
Represented Marina Litvinenko in the public inquiry into the murder of her husband, Alexander Litvinenko, by agents of the Russian FSB using the radioactive isotope Polonium 210
Represented Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange in connection with his proposed extradition to Sweden 3 www.kslaw.com 3 Represented GCHQ whistleblower, Katherine Gunn, who was prosecuted under the Official Secrets Acts after revealing US attempts to manipulate the UN Security Council into authorizing the 2003 invasion of Iraq
Credentials EDUCATION Ph.D., University of Bristol, UK LL.B., University of Bristol, UK
ADMISSIONS England and Wales
Recognition Awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to international human rights and humanitarian law
MONCKTON CHAMBERS, 2020
Recognized as “highly experienced in representing foreign governments in inter-state litigation”
LEGAL 500, 2019
Recognized as “consistently impressive and reliable”
CHAMBERS UK, 2019
Recognized as “clever, robust and willing to commit to an opinion”
LEGAL 500, 2018
Recognized as “stellar” and “exceptional”
CHAMBERS UK, 2018
Recognized as “impressive on his feet” and “amazing to watch … He has intellectual vigour”
CHAMBERS UK, 2018
Recognized as an “extraordinary advocate and a real lawyer’s lawyer”
CHAMBERS UK, 2018
Recognized as a “fine legal mind”
LEGAL 500, 2017
Recognized as a “heavyweight and his repuation is first-rate”
4 www.kslaw.com 4 CHAMBERS UK, 2016
Recognized as “forcing a public inquiry is down to the sheer force of his personality”
CHAMBERS UK, 2016
Recognized as “A fantastic advocate who brings theatricality to the dry cases, particularly where being in the public eye is wanted. He is not fussed by unpopular causes or having the media breathing down his neck.”
CHAMBERS UK, 2016
Recognized as “Universally regarded as being phenomenal because he is very bright, very hard- working and very effective.”
CHAMBERS UK, 2016
Recognized as “Universally regarded as being phenomenal because he is very bright, very hard- working and very effective.”
CHAMBERS UK, 2016
Recognized as “an advocate of the highest calibre … His name speaks for itself”
LEGAL 500, 2015
Recognized as “a superb lawyer with market-leading tactical expertise” and is “massively in demand”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS, 2012
Recognized as a “formidable opponent” and is “pre-eminent in his field and impossible not to look up to”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS, 2009
Recognized as “absolutely at the top of his game”, commended for his “ability to read the court and harness his leviathan intellect to tackle the facts of a case” and “enjoys a stupendous reputation”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS, 2008
Recognized as “leading presence in the field”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS, 2007
Recognized as having “a reputation founded on an astonishing series of cases;” he can “turn his hand to anything, deploying beautifully constructed arguments;” he has “a pedigree that doesn’t
5 www.kslaw.com 5 need endorsement” and “incredible determination”
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS, 2005
Recognized as “head, shoulders and everything else” above the rest
CHAMBERS & PARTNERS, 2003
Insights CLIENT ALERT January 20, 2021 Key Business and Human Rights Issues for 2021
NEWSLETTER May 13, 2021 Energy Newsletter - May 2021
News CASES & DEALS September 21, 2021 King & Spalding Obtains ECHR Victory for Marina Litvinenko Against Russia
RECOGNITION July 16, 2021 Global Arbitration Review Names King & Spalding Top Two in International Arbitration
Best Lawyers Recognizes Europe-based King & Spalding Lawyers in its 2022 Guides
VIEW ALL ON KSLAW.COM
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