Ben Emmerson, K.C.

Ben Emmerson CBE QC is a specialist leading counsel in public international law and international corporate risk management, as a partner in the firm’s London office. He joins King & Spalding as the Global Head of Public International Law.

Emmerson is an accomplished courtroom advocate with 35 years’ experience representing sovereign States, as well as individual and corporate clients before international courts and tribunals, including more than 20 cases in the UK Supreme Court and its predecessor the House of Lords, and more than 30 cases at the European Court of Human Rights. Emmerson was previously a member at Doughty Street Chambers before founding Matrix Chambers in 2000, the same year he was awarded Queen’s Counsel (QC) status. He was most recently at Monckton Chambers. A versatile litigator, he has appeared at the highest appellate levels, in numerous leading cases, across a range of disciplines within public international law and international criminal law, including territorial disputes, the law of armed conflict, national security, international criminal law, sanctions law, international criminal cartel and bribery investigations, and international human rights law.

Emmerson was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list last month for services to international law. He previously served as the UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and as a judge of the UN International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia. He has also served as a Deputy High Court Judge. He is a Master of the Bench of Middle Temple, a Visiting Professor of International Law and Security at the University of Oxford, and an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford. He also holds an honorary PhD from the University of Bristol. Emmerson is highly-ranked in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500.