I am a Visiting Research Fellow researching and teaching in the School of Security Studies. I completed my PhD in the War Studies Department at King’s College, London in January 2021. My professional background is as a commercial lawyer at a leading City law firm in London from 1992-2015, I was a partner specializing in international finance from 2001-15. My first degree is a B.Sc (Econ) in International Relations from the London School of Economics and I completed post-graduate legal training at Nottingham Law School. I returned to full time education to complete an MA in War Studies at King’s in 2016.

Research Interests

• International law and war
• The law of armed conflict
• War crimes
• Human rights
• The character of war
• Legal history
• The practice of law.

Thesis

A penumbra of war: The use of lethal force in British military operations in internal armed conflicts.

My thesis used a multi-disciplinary approach encompassing international law, English law, history and strategy to investigate the legal basis adopted by the British Army for the use of lethal force in internal armed conflicts from the Jamaica Rebellion in 1865 to the Iraq War, 2004-09.

Teaching

Teaching staff and Graduate Teaching Assistant (2018-24).

I have taught on the second-year BA module ‘International Law, Human Rights and Intervention’ for five years as well as the first year module ‘The Causes and Consequences of War’ for two years. I have also taught the Post-Graduate modules: ‘International Peace and Security’ and ‘Dirty Wars’ and the War Studies Online MA module ‘International Law and the Use of Force’.

I was an essay tutor for the Department of Defence Studies at the Royal College of Defence Studies 2021-23

Publications

• ‘Wanted Dead or Alive: The Outlaw in Modern War’, British Journal for Military History 9, no. 3 (November 2023), 2-20
• Strife blog articles: ‘Challenges to the Rule of Law in Times of Crisis: “Introduction” and “Prosecuting war crimes: Some thoughts for the new Prosecutor of the ICC”’, Strife blog (24 and 27 May 2021)
• Book review: ‘Christine Chinkin & Mary Kaldor, International Law and New Wars (Cambridge University Press, 2017)’, Strife Journal, Issue 8 (February/ March 2018), pp. 77-80