Called: 2022
Qualified to accept Public Access Instructions
Licenced to Conduct Litigation
Introduction
Isabella is a Member of the Bar of England and Wales and a Member of G37 Chambers. She accepts instructions in most of Chambers’ practice areas, including Public International Law, International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law. Her domestic practice is predominantly in public law (judicial review), immigration and asylum law and sanctions.
International Law
Isabella has a wealth of experience working on matters before international courts and tribunals, including at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, where she was appointed as an associate to represent Mr Shala in the case of The Specialist Prosecutor v. Sabit Januzi, Ismet Bahtijari and Haxhi Shala. Isabella regularly advises individuals and organisations on international legal issues, including engagement and advocacy before United Nations treaty bodies and mechanisms such as the the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Committee Against Torture.
Isabella is engaged in work on niche areas of international law, including being at the forefront of the representation of groups advocating for the repatriation of cultural heritage, the protection of indigenous and minority groups, and accountability for violations of international humanitarian law. She has a particular interest in transitional justice and peacebuilding in post-conflict states.
Examples of Isabella’s recent cases include:
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Sudan: representing victims of the Sudanese conflict seeking accountability for alleged war crimes perpetrated by the RSF since 2023.
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Ukraine, Syria, Chechnya: instructed by an NGO to draft a detailed legal submission on accountability and transitional justice in Syria, Chechnya and Ukraine, analysing violations of international criminal, humanitarian and human rights law across the three conflicts.
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Libya: on team instructed to draft a submission to the ICC Prosecutor pursuant to Article 15 regarding violations of ICL in Libya.
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Syria: assisted on project relating to accountability for use of chemical weapons against the civilian population.
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Universal jurisdiction: advising on universal jurisdiction claims in relation to multiple conflicts.
Public Law & Sanctions
Isabella represents clients in a range of claims against public authorities on behalf of individuals in the UK, including under the Human Rights Act 1998, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the Equality Act 2010.
Immigration & Asylum
Isabella has a thriving immigration and asylum law practice, representing individuals in both private and public cases, including international protection claims, including asylum, political asylum and humanitarian protection, nationality and citizenship law, appeals against refusals of visa applications, including family applications and applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain, High Net Worth Individual (HNWI) cases, human trafficking and modern slavery claims and immigration bail.
Crime & Regulatory
Isabella also appears regularly in professional disciplinary proceedings. Isabella has recently been instructed in several cases of serious professional misconduct by professionals against vulnerable patients and/or colleagues.
Background
Before transferring to the Bar, Isabella was a qualified Solicitor before the Senior Courts of England and Wales. She worked for several years in private legal practice and in a non-governmental organisation (‘NGO’) in the area of immigration, asylum and public law. She represented asylum-seekers, survivors of torture, and survivors of human trafficking and slavery.
Isabella has been involved in several groundbreaking cases, including representing a legal challenge to the UK government’s funding and support to an EU development project in Eritrea which was using enslaved conscripts from the Eritrean National Service, a legal challenge against the Secretaries of State for International Development and for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs regarding the provision of overseas aid and support to the Libyan Coastguard and Detention Centres in Libya for potentially contributing to violations of International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law, and R (On The Application Of CSM) v SSHD [2021] EWHC 2175 (Admin) in which the Home Secretary was found to be in breach of the “systems duty” under Article 3 ECHR to put in place appropriate legal and administrative systems to protect detainees with HIV from harm.
Isabella was interviewed and featured in the news about her work on several occasions. See here, here and here, for example.
Isabella also worked at the United Nations’ Migration Agency (‘IOM’), the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR, Human Rights Council) in Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in London, and as a Trainee Lawyer at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg.
She has also worked for various NGOs, both as an employed lawyer and consultant. Notably, in 2022, the Equal Rights Trust appointed her to a team of specialist human rights lawyers to analyse the issues surrounding the realisation of the legal right to non-discrimination in the context of modern slavery and domestic servitude. In 2019, Isabella was appointed to the Committee of Amnesty International UK’s Children’s Rights Network.
Mediation
Isabella is also a practising Mediator. She qualified through the Society of Mediators in London and is able to mediate a wide range of disputes, from international legal disputes to disputes between trustees of charities, employment issues, disputes within families or communities of a sensitive nature.
Appointments
Isabella is an elected member of the prestigious Executive Committee of the ‘Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales’ (BHRC).
Memberships
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
List of Assistants to Counsel at the International Criminal Court (ICC)
The Law Society (Roll of Solicitors)
Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC)
International Law Association (British Branch)
Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA)
Member of the Society of Mediators (MSoM)
Education
LLB Law (Hons.), LLM Public International Law, LPC.
Languages
English (Mother Tongue)
French (C1)
Italian (B2)
German (B1)