Special Advisor on Slavery Crimes for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

Ms Patricia Sellers is a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College of the University of Oxford where she teaches international criminal law and human rights law. She has been widely consulted on international criminal law and humanitarian law. She has been a Special Legal Consultant to UN Women, to the Gender and Women’s Rights Division of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and to the UN Secretary’s General’s Special Representative to Children in Armed Conflict. In 2012, she was a member of an expert panel to review the UN Office of Internal Oversight that has initial jurisdiction over UN Peacekeepers.

Ms Sellers was the Legal Advisor for Gender, the Acting Head of the Legal Advisory Section and a prosecutor at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”) from 1994 until February 2007. She developed the legal strategies and was a member of the trial teams working on the Akayesu, Furundzija, and Kunarac cases. These landmark decisions remain the pre-imminent legal standards for the interpretation of sexual violence as war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, torture and enslavement.

Senior Manager Inclusiveness, Equity & Diversity, Fieldfisher

Justina is an Inclusion, Equity and Diversity (IE&D) Leader, with over a decade's experience within the professional services sector, she recently joined leading European Law Firm, Fieldfisher where she leads the Inclusiveness, Equity and Diversity Team. Justina is responsible for spearheading the development and execution of the firm's IE&D strategy. Prior to her role at Fieldfisher, Justina made a significant impact during her six-year tenure at the magic circle firm, Slaughter and May, leading on the firm's inaugural race strategy.

Justina is a regular speaker on the topic IE&D with the ability to empower individuals and connect with internal and external stakeholders at all levels to build strong and influential relationships. Beyond her professional achievements, she is also a published author, with her book "Unplanned Paths: A Stroke of Life," offering a poignant account of her lifelong journey as a caregiver for her mother, who suffered a stroke at the age of 37.

Her commitment to promoting inclusion, equity and diversity has been recognised through numerous accolades. Justina has been included in the EMpower Top 100 Ethnic Minority Future Leaders List for two consecutive years, and in 2022, she secured a spot on the Top 20 Ethnically Diverse Global Women Role Models. Notably, she currently holds a director position on the board of the Black Solicitors Network, where she continues to be a powerful force for positive change.

Head of Just Purpose, Fieldfisher

Millie Hawes heads up Fieldfisher’s Just Purpose (corporate responsibility) programme comprising three pillars: pro bono, community, and sustainability. Working with civil society organisations, Fieldfisher drives societal change and empower their people to take action on a wide range of causes. Millie leads projects across the international Fieldfisher network and strives to embed ESG in the firm's purpose and strategy. Millie Hawes has a particular focus on disability rights. After graduating with a Law degree from Durham University, she started her career in the disability charity sector and now uses her experience as a disabled activist to steer Fieldfisher work and influence evolution at the firm. Having launched Fieldfisher disability network, Discover, in 2021, Millie also spearheaded initiatives to educate non-disabled people, support the disabled community, and remove barriers to inclusion.

Partner, Serious Injury Sector, FieldFisher

Jill Greenfield is a leading serious injury lawyer and head of the catastrophic injury team, representing clients in the UK and internationally. She won the Disputes Lawyer of the Year at the Women and Diversity in Law Awards 2023. She is one of a handful of UK lawyers recognised by Chambers as a 'Star Individual' and in 2021. Furthermore, Jill Greenfield was honoured with the title of Lifetime Achievement in Law UK's Women, Influence & Power Awards. In 2020, Jill was named Catastrophic Injury Lawyer of the Year at the Personal Injury Awards, and she was included in in The Lawyer Hot 100 in 2019. In 2018, she was shortlisted as Woman Lawyer of the Year at the Law Society Excellence Awards. Her team won the Solicitors Journal Personal Injury team of the Year in 2017.

Jill is passionate about women's rights and she campaigns to improve women's access to justice. She is currently running the UK cases against Harvey Weinstein for alleged historic sexual assaults. She has taken a civil rape case to trial and won - one of only a handful of cases that have ever reached trial without a criminal conviction.

She regularly acts for children and seeks to improve safety standards. This includes the introduction of new regulation following the death of Grace Roseman in a bed side sleeper cot and better protection of children visiting Open Farms following serious outbreaks of E Coli 0157 in the UK over the past 20 years. E Coli 0157 is now recognised as a notifiable disease and more stringent safety measures apply.

International human rights Barrister, Ex Deputy Director, Reprieve

Soraya combines a busy Crown Court practice with an established career in international human rights. She is known for her robust advocacy, methodical analysis, and exceptional client care.

Soraya is an established expert in capital defence and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, with her work towards abolishing the death penalty being described as ‘groundbreaking’. Before coming to the Bar, Soraya spearheaded Reprieve’s strategic casework in the MENA region, and has frequently appeared before the United Nations as an advocate and expert on state compliance with international law. She has guest lectured at Leiden University on terrorism and human rights, and recently at Goldsmiths University in London on the Universal Periodic Review mechanism to hold states to account for their human rights record.

International Human Rights Lawyer. Public interest lawyer and policy advocate

Eleanor Thompson is a public interest lawyer who is passionate about innovations that drive solutions to social justice problems. She currently works with Namati Sierra Leone advancing protection of communities’ land rights and environment through legal empowerment. She is also a private legal practitioner with GPKLegal.

She has worked extensively on human rights, rule of law, and justice at national, regional, and global levels for over 15 years, including in the areas of international criminal justice, business and human rights, customary land rights, environmental law, and the African human rights system.

Eleanor holds a Bachelor’s degree in Government and African Studies from Harvard University, a Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law, and a Masters in International Human Rights Law with distinction from the University of Oxford. She is licensed to practice law in Sierra Leone and two United States jurisdictions - New York State and the District of Columbia. As the Board Chair for She Can.We Can., a mentor with Girls Empowerment Sierra Leone, and the manager of a female football club, she guides young female leaders in Sierra Leone. She is a 2023 Acumen West Africa Fellow and a 2023 Obama Africa Leader.

Human Rights Lawyer, Visiting Professor of Human Rights, Human Rights Centre, Birmingham City University

Vicki Prais is an international human rights lawyer and independent human rights consultant with particular expertise in prisoners’ rights, prison reform, dignity behind bars and torture prevention. Vicki works with International Organisations, academic institutions, civil society and governments to research and document human rights violations, design and deliver human rights training and to lobby and advocate on human rights issues.

She has 27 years’ experience in the human rights sector and a professional background in International Organisations, the field, the British Government, non-governmental organisations and academia.

Barrister, Exchange Chambers

Celestine Greenwood is a human rights activist and barrister. She has over 25 years’ experience representing children and others in the most serious cases of alleged abuse of children and has appeared in several significant reported cases. She holds master's degrees in Development and in International Human Rights and Gender and has 8 years' experience working overseas in conflict and post-conflict transition countries advancing and supporting the human rights of girls and women. In particular, she worked on protecting girls from abuse and trafficking in Central Asia and on the full realisation of their human rights in the Pacific and other parts of the world.

She regularly writes about combatting violence against women and girls, improving the public law family justice system and is an active contributor to several projects exploring areas for change to improve the family law system for children and families. Her other legal interests include the application of feminist legal methodology both to lawyering and judging (her revised feminist judgment in the case of the Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadzic was published in a collection of feminist judgments in 2019) and the protection and advancement of reproductive rights both here and in the United States.

She has taught law in the U.S., mentored post graduate law students and legal professionals from multiple international jurisdictions, as well as pupil barristers. She is also a certified trainer and has delivered training in human rights and other legal topics to a range of audiences, including girls, lawyers and most recently, to judges of the ICC and the ICJ. Celestine also provides legal consultancy services internationally.

Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers. Specialist in trafficking and gender based violence.

Zoe acts in appeal proceedings and judicial review claims in all areas of immigration and nationality law and is regularly instructed in complex refugee and human rights claims.

She has particular expertise in representing victims of trafficking and gender-based violence and is instructed in challenges to decision-making within the National Referral Mechanism (determining the status of victims of trafficking) as well as in protection appeals involving trafficking, gender and LGBTI+ issues.

Zoe is well-regarded for her sensitive and effective work with vulnerable clients, including those affected by torture, trauma, mental health difficulties or other serious health concerns. She frequently acts in protection and human rights claims involving health-related issues, and is also experienced in advising in cases where there concerns in relation to mental capacity.

Zoe has an active and parallel practice before the Court of Protection. She is regularly instructed by litigation friends, including the Official Solicitor, family members and local authorities in cases involving health and welfare issues, including deprivation of liberty.

Zoe is appointed to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission Panel of Preferred Counsel.

Intersectional Justice Consultant, Open Society Foundations

Coline is a consultant in intersectional justice at the Open Society Foundations. For the past ten years, she has engaged in advocacy, action research, and policy work, and has helped build structural legal aid projects in several countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. She previously worked and consulted for the Open Society Justice Initiative and the International Institute for Environment and Development, where she developed community-based public interest litigation and legal empowerment initiatives to strengthen protection regimes for migrants and refugees, and to seek accountability for the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous communities.

She is the co-editor of the anthology Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence (Haymarket Books, 2023) and has written on subjects such as migration, displacement, human trafficking, and international law for the Border Criminologies blog, Opinio Juris, and theAsia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law. She holds a M.St. from Oxford University and a LL.B. from Sheffield University.

Solicitor, Dawson Cornwell. Specialist in Early & Forced Marriage, FGM, Domestic Violence

Shabina is an exceptional lawyer who specialises in international child abduction, forced marriage, child marriage, female genital mutilation and gender based violence. She is a UN recognised expert of child, early and forced marriages in the UK and she has conducted pioneering research and she champions the rights of women and girls. She was part of the pro – bono legal team who drafted the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022. She is a Resolution accredited Specialist in Child Abduction & Forced Marriage and Honour-based Violence and she has worked as an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate handling high risk cases and extremely vulnerable clients.

Shabina has been recognised by The Law Society as a Legal Hero in 2023. She also won the Women of the Future Awards 2020 in the business category. She is also featured in Management Today's "35 Women Under 35, 2020 " List of Britain's Brightest Young Business Leaders.

Barrister, Garden Court Chambers. Specialist in international criminal, humanitarian, and human rights law.

Sareta Ashraph is a barrister specialized in international criminal law, with expertise in the gender-competent and intersectional analyses of the commission and impact of international crimes. She is a Senior Legal Consultant to the Center for Justice & Accountability, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Atlantic Council.

Previously, Sareta served the Director of Investigations at UNITAD, and as the Chief Legal Analyst to the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria and the Commission of Inquiry on Libya. She has appeared as Counsel before the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She maintains a foothold in academia, publishing and lecturing regularly. In 2020, Sareta was named Apolitical's 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy.

Sareta is a co-editor of “The Syrian War: Between Justice and Political Reality”, published by Cambridge University Press, and teaches on the subject of Gender and International Crimes at the Geneva Academy.

Solicitor, Wilsons Solicitors, Public & Human Rights Specialist

Katie joined Wilsons in May 2022 as a solicitor in the Public Law & Human Rights department. Katie represents asylum seekers, victims of trafficking and other marginalised clients to assert their rights against the government by way of judicial review and civil claims for compensation.

Katie studied History and Philosophy at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a First. For her examination performance, she was awarded the Rowley Mainhood Prize, Arthur Tindal Hart Prize, Owen Scholarship and the Abdul Aziz Prize. She then completed the Graduate Diploma in Law and Accelerated Legal Practice Course, receiving Distinctions in both. Katie is currently studying part-time for a Masters in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford. She has also been awarded a 2023 Churchill Fellowship where she will be visiting the USA and Canada to research the uses and regulation of automated decision-making in immigration systems.

Katie trained at the city law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, rotating between departments such as international arbitration, mergers & acquisitions and antitrust litigation, and was the co-ordinator of Freshfields’ pro bono programme with Tower Hamlets Law Centre. Katie was seconded to the human rights NGO, Liberty, where she worked on strategic litigation concerning the UK’s mass surveillance regime, the government’s use of Napier military barracks to accommodate asylum seekers, and transgender peoples’ right to equal access to medical treatment.

On qualification as a solicitor Katie left corporate law to work for Hickman & Rose in their Actions Against the Police and Human Rights department. She worked on inquests, inquiries, universal jurisdiction cases and public law challenges arising out of the criminal justice system.

Pro Bono Senior Associate, Fieldfisher

Catriona is responsible for developing and running Fieldfisher's pro bono programmes within the UK and coordinating pro bono work across the European offices, assisting in creating and embedding pro bono programmes where needed. She works with both charities and fee earners to identify suitable projects for the firm and work with pro bono partners to design new projects. Where clients of the firm have a pro bono offering themselves, or wish to get involved in the firm's projects, Catriona provides ongoing support to establishing those programmes and relationships. She is also responsible for supervising a number of pro bono clinics.

Catriona represents the firm at a number of external pro bono membership groups including the UK Collaborative Plan, the Law Society's pro bono charter and the European Pro Bono Initiative.

Catriona is a public lawyer by background, working primarily in disability rights in which she has represented clients in a number of high profile challenges including R (McDonald) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea [2011] UKSC 33 and the case of Bethany a 17 year old autistic woman who was held in solitary confinement for two years in a mental health institution ('My autistic daughter was held in a cell for two years' - BBC News). She has represented a number of disability rights charities in various challenges including the Royal Mencap Society in challenge the NICE decision to use the Clinical Frailty Scale during the early days of the COVID - 19 crisis (Mencap responds to new NICE COVID-19 guidance | Mencap) and the MS Society in challenge NICE decisions on the restriction of particular MS treatments. She has also represented numerous children at the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

Managing Partner, Fieldfisher