Fiona has a diverse practice spanning all of Chambers’ core areas, including commercial law (encompassing IP-adjacent matters), as well as public international and public law, with valuable experience in both international arbitration and court proceedings.
Her background includes roles at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the European Court of Human Rights, the Law Commission and supervisor at Fitzwilliam College, University of Cambridge.
Fiona holds a first-class undergraduate degree in Law and a first- class Masters degree in Public International Law, both from the University of Cambridge.
She has been appointed to the Attorney General’s Public International Law C Panel and the Attorney General’s General C Panel.
Fiona accepts direct access instructions where appropriate. For further details, see the direct access portal.
Privacy notice
Public International Law
Recent experience includes:
- Extensive advice on the law of State Immunity
- Sanctions law, including advice on the interpretation of sanctions regimes, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and extra-territorial application.
- Law of the Sea, including: advice on the right of coastal states in relation to the exclusive economic zone; research on the interplay between UNCLOS, the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement; advice on international obligations as regards fire safety and hygiene on board vessels, including under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, the Maritime Labour Convention and International Health Regulations. Furthermore, she was junior counsel on a judicial review which raised issues under the Law of the Sea, in particular the demarcation between internal waters and the territorial sea (R (Parkes) v Dorset County Council).
- Treaty interpretation, including advice on the interpretation of the UK-EU Trade and Co-operation Agreement, InterBus Treaty, and the Tokyo Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft.
- Investor-State disputes under Bilateral Investment Treaties, including advice on the definition of “investment”, guarantees in relation to expropriation and equivalent measures, fair and equitable treatment, and full protection and security.
- Human rights As well as advising on human rights in relations to sanctions (see above), her recent experience in this field includes:
- Pegasus scholar in the UK and Ireland unit at the European Court of Human Rights. This involved: work on an inter-State case, including analysis of the submissions and case management; carrying out assessments of admissibility; preparing Single Judge notes and notes for the non-judicial rapporteur; observing Grand Chamber hearings as well as the judge’s deliberations.
- Assisting the FCDO with the filing of the UK’s Observations and accompanying annexes in Duarte Agostinho and Others v Portugal and Others.
- EU and EFTA law, including advice on the impact of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill (as it was at the time) and knock-on implications for the UK’s compliance with international agreements. Prior to coming to the Bar, she undertook a ‘stage’ at the Court of Justice of the European Union in the cabinet of Judge Vajda.
Commercial
Recent experience includes:
- Currently instructed as sole Counsel on a multi-million-dollar debt claim, raising jurisdictional issues.
- Currently instructed as junior Counsel for the defendant to a debt claim, raising issues of limitation, set-off and security.
- Junior Counsel on a shipping arbitration. During this arbitration, she gained experience with cross-examining two expert witnesses.
- Advice on obtaining a worldwide freezing injunction.
- Extensive contract law advice, raising issues of conflicts of laws, routes to termination of the contracts, quantification of damages, the minimum performance rule, contractual interpretation, exclusion of common law rights, and implied terms. She also drafted the Letter Before Action and reviewed witness statements in preparation for potential proceedings.
- Junior Counsel in a Court of Appeal case concerning the refusal of the High Court to grant the claimant an interim injunction.
- Junior Counsel for a Case Management Conference in the High Court concerning whether to order a trial of a preliminary issue.
IP-adjacent matters
Recent experience includes:
- Extensive advice to a publisher of educational material whose professional educational material had been misappropriated and reproduced. The advice covered breach of contract and copyright infringement. Also drafted the Letter before Action, which led to settlement.
- Junior Counsel in a Court of Appeal case concerning breach of contract and IP infringement. Successfully resisted the other side’s application for an interim injunction to restrain alleged patent infringement in the UK, pending a substantive trial to determine the Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory terms of the future cross-licence between the parties (Motorola Mobility LLC and Lenovo (United States) Inc v Ericsson Ltd and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson [2024] EWCA Civ 1100). Junior Counsel in a related matter concerning alleged breach of a global patent cross-licence agreement, in which the Patent Division of the High Court ordered a preliminary issue trial as to the construction of one of the contract clauses (Motorola Mobility LLC v Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson [2024] EWHC 2027 (Pat)).
- Particulars of claim and merits advice in a case concerning trade secrets and confidential information about innovative wind turbine technology that the Claimant had designed and developed. The claim was for (inter alia) breach of contract and breach of confidentiality, which constituted unlawful disclosure or use of trade secrets, and an injunction to restrain the Defendant from using or disclosing the information. Following the merits advice, the claim settled.
- Particulars of claim, application for an injunction and merits advice in a claim concerning use of confidential trade secrets, in breach of contract. Following the merits advice, the claim settled.
Shipping and Commodities
Recent experience includes:
- Junior Counsel in a shipping arbitration, concerning loading and stowage of cargo. During this arbitration, she gained experience with cross-examining two expert witnesses.
- Junior Counsel in a shipping arbitration concerning an unsafe port.
- Junior Counsel in a High Court trial concerning storage costs in respect of contaminated cargo.
- Advice on the duty to mitigate loss following contamination of cargo.
- Advice on termination of a contract for sale of a ship.
- Advice on the obligation to nominate a vessel.
- Advice on quantification of damages for delay.
Public
Recent experience includes:
- Sole Counsel for HMRC in forfeiture proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
- Sole Counsel for the Ministry of Justice in a trial concerning a prisoner’s Article 8 rights.
