Alison Macdonald QC

Matrix Chambers

Aiding and assisting – the parameters of state responsibility (afternoon panels session, day 2)

Alison Macdonald QC is a barrister at Matrix Chambers, specialising in public international law, investment arbitration, human rights and criminal law. She regularly appears as advocate before international courts and tribunals, acting for States, private entities, individuals, international organisations and non-governmental organisations, as well as in the English courts on related legal issues. Her criminal practice complements her work in international law, involving extradition, international criminal law, and financial crime.

Current and recent litigation includes acting for Mauritius in the pending ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Chagos Archipelago, for Ghana in its maritime boundary claim against Côte d’Ivoire, and for Kazakhstan in an investment arbitration arising in the mining sector. Current and recent advisory work covers the full range of international law, from treaty succession and diplomatic protection to enforcement of arbitral awards and state immunity.

She studied at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, has taught at King’s College London, and in 1999 was elected a fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. She was appointed Queens’ Counsel in 2017.