Sam Wordsworth QC
Essex Court Chambers
Effective advocacy in inter-state litigation (afternoon panels session, day 2)
Sam Wordsworth QC specialises in public international law and international arbitration. He is regularly instructed by Governments in international law cases and has appeared before numerous international tribunals, including the International Court of Justice and Tribunals constituted with respect to the Law of the Sea.
Recent State/State court appearances include: before the ICJ: request for an Advisory Opinion concerning the decolonisation of Mauritius (for the UK); Iran v USA, cases concerning Alleged violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity and Certain Iranian Assets (for Iran); Bolivia v Chile, case concerning the obligation to negotiate access to the Pacific Ocean (for Chile); Ukraine v Russia, case concerning alleged financing of terrorism and racial discrimination in Crimea (for Russia); Costa Rica v Nicaragua, maritime boundary and the cases concerning Certain Activities and the Road (for Costa Rica); before ad hoc tribunals, Ukraine v Russia case concerning Coastal State rights in the Black Sea (for Russia); Pakistan v India, case concerning the Kishenganga dam (for Pakistan).
Other notable cases include: before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal, Case A15 concerning Iranian property in the USA (for Iran); the European Court of Human Rights, Al-Skeini v UK, Al-Jedda v UK and Hassan v UK (for the UK), the Nada and Al Dulimi cases (for the UK); before the UK Supreme Court Serdar Mohammed (concerning legality of UK detention operations in Afghanistan), Belhaj (concerning alleged complicity of the UK in torture); before the Singapore Court of Appeal: Swissbourgh Diamond Mines and others v Kingdom of Lesotho (for Lesotho).