Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh T. 020 7404 3447 (Practice Manager, Paul Venables) E. blinnenighralaigh@matrixlaw.co.uk Registered name on the Bar Standards Board Register: Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh VAT Number: 937689557 Called (England and Wales) 2005 Called (Belfast) 2013 Main Areas of Practice Public International Law Civil Actions Against the Police Criminal Law and Due Process Human Rights Public Law Arbitration Prison Law Blinne is listed in the current 2015 Legal 500 as “a stellar practitioner with an eagle eye”, previous directories having described her as an advocate who “cares passionately about the cases she works on” (2013) and who “brings a level of legal knowledge and judgment that is far beyond her years of practice” (2014). Blinne practices at the interface of public, criminal, human rights and international law. She is regularly instructed on behalf of individuals, States, NGOs and other national and international bodies to act and advise in those areas, and appears in both domestic and international courts and tribunals. She has also contributed to a number of leading practitioners’ texts on human rights, crime and prison law, and co-authored various articles on questions of international law. Domestic practice Blinne’s domestic practice encompasses all areas of criminal defence and criminal justice, including prison law, actions against the police, prison and other State authorities. She has particular experience – and a particular interest – in protestrelated criminal cases, and criminal cases raising questions of international law. She was recently instructed on behalf of for a number of defendants charged with aggravated trespass of a drone factory at the height of Israel’s 2014 ‘Operation Protective Edge’ against Gaza. She also defends in cases alleging breaches of anti-terrorism legislation, and is currently instructed in two such high-profile cases in the Old Bailey. Blinne also has a broad public law practice, focusing primarily on cases raising questions of human rights, environmental, international and national security law. Recent cases include: a challenge by An Taisce (the Irish National Trust) to the development a new nuclear power station, on the ground that the British government should have consulted on the transboundary effects of the project (a case raising issues under the Espoo Convention and the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties); a challenge to the British secret services’ refusal to disclose materials for the purposes of a criminal trial in New York, following the extradition of the Applicant from England to the United States to face terrorism-related charges (the first ordinary civil case to involve secret (“closed”) hearings under the Justice and Security Act 2013); and a number of Troubles-related cases involving allegations of torture and collusion in murder and cover-up on the part of British State officials and agents. She accepts instructions under Standard Contractual Terms, details of which can be found here. International practice Blinne is recommended in the Legal 500 as a leading junior in public international law. Her international law practice includes cases before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and arbitral tribunals. She has appeared as counsel before the International Court of Justice in a number of cases, including as co-counsel for Croatia (with Professor James Crawford SC, Professor Philippe Sands QC and Keir Starmer QC) in its genocide claim against Serbia (Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide), and for the Republic of Macedonia in its successful case against Greece (Case Concerning the Application of the Interim Accord). Griffin Building, Gray’s Inn, London, WC1R 5LN www.matrixlaw.co.uk 01 Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh T. 020 7404 3447 (Practice Manager, Paul Venables) E. blinnenighralaigh@matrixlaw.co.uk Blinne’s cases under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea include Guyana v. Suriname, concerning maritime boundary delimitation and the use of force, the ARA Libertad Arbitration (Argentina v. Ghana), concerning the confiscation of a war ship in peacetime, and Arctic Sunrise (Kingdom of the Netherlands v. Russian Federation), in relation to which she provided preliminary advice to Greenpeace. She also has experience of arbitrations under the ICSID and UNCITRAL rules. Blinne has been awarded a number of international fellowships and placements, including to work on death penalty appeals and on cases alleging extraterritorial abuses of human rights by corporations – areas of particular interest and expertise. She has co-authored and contributed to various amicus briefs submitted to national courts in other jurisdictions, including the United States Supreme Court, on the issue of domestic and international redress for corporate violations of human rights (e.g. Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum and In Re Apartheid). She is also instructed on death penalty appeals from Commonwealth countries before the Privy Council in London. Blinne is Co-Vice Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, the international human rights arm of the Bar Council, on behalf of which she regularly conducts trial observations, participates in international legal missions, drafts legal interventions, and provides training to NGOs and national Bar associations on matters of international law and human rights. Her work in this area frequently takes her to the Middle East, including to Palestine - another area in relation to which she has particular knowledge and expertise. Blinne has an LLM in International Legal Studies from New York University (equivalent distinction), and holds two certificates from the London School of Economics in International Human Rights Law and Practice, and Law, War and Human Rights. She graduated from Queens' College, Cambridge with First Class Honours in Modern and Medieval Languages (French and Latin), received a distinction on the Graduate Diploma in Law and was graded Outstanding on the Bar Vocational Course, placing fourth in her year. Prior to joining the Bar, Blinne worked for a leading solicitors' firm specialising in actions against the police and prison law, and spent two years working on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, as legal observer for a specialist NGO and subsequently as legal assistant to the solicitors representing the wounded and the families of those killed. Blinne came to the legal profession after an initial career working for a think-tank. Select cases • R (Al Fawwaz) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (judicial review challenge to the UK’s refusal to disclose materials requested by a US criminal court pursuant to the Crime (International Cooperation Act 2003) • An Taisce (The National Trust for Ireland) v. Secretary of State for the Environment (judicial review challenge to the UK government’s decision to grant permission for a new nuclear power station, 150 miles from the Irish coast) • R (Kaur and Shah) v. Ealing London Borough Council (judicial review challenge to the decision to withdraw funding from the Southall Black Sisters in respect of their domestic violence work) • R v. Golding and others (trial of six defendants for conspiracy to harm an animal research organisation, contrary to s.145 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005) • Mitcham v. The Queen (Saint Christopher & Nevis) (death penalty appeal before the Privy Council raising issues relating to the right to a fair trial) • Croatia v. Serbia (claim by Croatia against Serbia under the Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice) • Macedonia v. Greece (claim by Macedonia against Greece for breach of treaty before the International Court of Justice) • Guyana v. Suriname (boundary dispute by Guyana against Suriname under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) • Frontier v. Czech Republic (investor-State arbitration under the UNCITRAL arbitration rules) Griffin Building, Gray’s Inn, London, WC1R 5LN www.matrixlaw.co.uk 02 Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh T. 020 7404 3447 (Practice Manager, Paul Venables) E. blinnenighralaigh@matrixlaw.co.uk Select Publications • 'Towards an International Rule of Law?' in Tom Bingham and the Transformation of the Law: A Liber Amicorum (Oxford University Press, 2009) (co-author with Professor Philippe Sands QC) • Prison Law by Livingstone, Owen and Macdonald (4th Ed., Oxford, 2008) (contributing author) • Human Rights and Criminal Justice by Emmerson, Ashworth and Macdonald (2nd Ed., Sweet & Maxwell, 2007) (contributing author) • 'Human Rights, International Justice and the Rule of Law' in Globalisation - A Liberal Response (CentreForum, 2007) (co-author) Education Master of Laws (LLM) in International Legal Studies (equivalent Distinction), New York University Certificate in Law, War and Human Rights, London School of Economics Certificate in International Human Rights Law and Practice, London School of Economics Bar Vocational Course (Outstanding), Inns of Court School of Law Gradulate Diploma in Law (Distinction), University of Westminster BA Honours in Modern and Mediaeval Languages (French and Latin) (First Class Hons), Queens' College, Cambridge Previous Employment Legal Assistant on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, Madden & Finucane Solicitors Legal Observer on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, British Irish Rights Watch Legal Assistant, Bhatt Murphy Solicitors Research Associate / Senior Manager, Corporate Executive Board Scholarships and Awards Pegasus Scholarship, Inns of Court Bairstow Scholarship, Inns of Court School of Law St Thomas More Bursary, Lincoln’s Inn Harwicke Award, Lincoln’s Inn Phoenicia Scholarship, Bar European Group Buchanan Prize, Lincoln’s Inn Lord Bowen Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn Foundation Scholarship for academic excellence, Queens’ College, Cambridge Memberships Languages Vice Chair, Bar Human Rights Committee Human Rights Lawyers’ Association Criminal Bar Association Young Legal Aid Lawyers Group Haldane Society Fluent French Basic Irish Currently learning Arabic Griffin Building, Gray’s Inn, London, WC1R 5LN www.matrixlaw.co.uk 03