Practice

I am active in professional practice. I currently work as the Senior Staff Attorney in the Environment Program of the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, an initiative of the New York City Bar Association. In that role, I regularly advise and represent UN agencies and officers, intergovernmental organizations and NGOs in litigation, and managing complex multijurisdictional legal research. Some of my recent projects include:

Representing several UN Special Rapporteurs in proceedings on climate change before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;
Designing and leading a multijurisdictional research project across all 193 UN Member States as part of the United Nations Environment Program’s efforts to measure global Environmental Rule of Law;
Advising the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in its preparation of its General Comment 26, the first General Comment by a UN Treaty Body to focus on climate change;
Supporting a brief cited by the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, emphasizing the rights of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and informed consultation;
Leading research on the global recognition of the right to a healthy environment, which supported a successful global campaign to have the right recognized by the UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly; and
Served as lead author on a landmark report, together with International Rivers and the Earth Law Center, analyzing the global recognition of the rights of rivers.

I have also consulted on human rights or constitutional design issues for clients the OECD, International IDEA, and the Parliament of Queensland (Australia). I am licensed to practice in New York, and have been admitted to the New Zealand bar (currently non-practicing). Please email me if you would like to discuss any professional opportunities for collaboration or advice.