Working Outside the Box: Building a Cross-Border Practice

We are delighted to be partnering again with KCL on 16 October 25 at 18:00 for 18:30 prompt start at Kings College Strand Campus followed by drinks.  The event will be aimed particularly at young lawyers and post-graduate students interested in cross-border careers.

European / international career paths are both interesting and varied. In any event, all of us who are concerned about excellence are interested in international issues as they seep increasingly into all areas of domestic law.  Protecting the rule of law requires lawyers to protect international legal norms and build relationships across international borders, at a time when money and information crosses borders at the click of a mouse, we all buy services from other jurisdictions in one form or another, but when the international movement of people is such a sensitive issue.

Confirmed speakers:

Fergus Randolph KC barrister at Brick Court Chambers, has a wide-ranging practice, covering competition, sanctions, post-Brexit trade work, commercial agency, public procurement and all aspects of EU law.  He frequently appears in the Competition Appeal Tribunal, all divisions of the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court as well as the General Court and Court of Justice in Luxembourg. He also sits as an arbitrator.

Alex Cooke is the Legal Director at EU Relations Legal Advisers, a directorate of the UK Government Legal Department which coordinates all legal issues arising from the UK’s relationship with the EU. The directorate handles matters under the Withdrawal Agreement and Trade and Cooperation Agreement, CJEU litigation and arbitral disputes, and the Strategic Partnership between the UK and the EU announced in 2025.  Alex qualified at the Bar of England and Wales and began working for the UK Government in 2002. He has worked in a wide range of roles in different government departments, covering agriculture, the environment, climate, energy and international trade and economic law. Most of those roles have involved working with EU law or, more recently, the UK’s exit from the EU.

James Onalaja is a criminal and regulatory barrister practising from 187 Chambers, Temple, London. His practise focuses on: serious, complex and violent crimes including matters with transnational, international criminal law and human rights complexities. He is admitted to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers’ (KSC) lists of counsel.  He recently completed a posting in The Hague with the ICC’s Office of Public Counsel for the Defence, assisting with its duties of representing, protecting and promoting the interests of the defence and unrepresented suspects. He conducts international trial monitoring and reporting on behalf of EuroMed Rights and the Bar Human Rights Committee. He is a member of the International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA) Training Committee and Chairs its Legal Advisory Committee.

Nasreen Shah is an experienced multi-disciplinary barrister, qualified in three jurisdictions. She has a busy practice defending and prosecuting in all aspects of criminal law.  She also has an international practice, as a member of Moyse & Associates in Luxembourg. In her capacity as Counsel, with a particular expertise in financial and economic crime she is able to expertly represent clients on a domestic and international level.  In addition to her multi-faceted practice as a barrister, Nasreen is a founder and director of Her Bar, a company focused on the progression of women at the Bar and the CEO of NexaLegal, a company focused on AI-powered solutions within the justice system.

Síofra Collins was called to the Bar of Ireland in 2023. After completing her undergraduate degree at Trinity College Dublin, she obtained a Master’s in European Union Law from Université de Paris II, Panthéon-Assas. Síofra gained experience working in the Competition and Anti-Trust department of Hogan Lovells, Paris and in the Litigation and International Arbitration department of Uría Menéndez, Madrid.
Síofra began working at the Court of Justice of the European Union in 2023. She is currently a legal assistant at the CJEU.

Emma Young is an Associate within the Operational Risk and Environment team at Travers Smith LLP, advising large corporate and asset manager clients on EU and UK environmental, financial crime and ESG matters. Prior to joining Travers Smith, she was based in the Brussels office of Baker McKenzie, where she was a member of the firm’s EU Regulatory practice group. Emma studied Law and French at Trinity College Dublin and holds an MA in Political and Governance Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges, where she specialised in EU energy and climate law and policy.

Niamh Martyn studied Law and French at Trinity College Dublin, completing the Diplôme d’Études en Droit de l’Union Européenne during her Erasmus year in Toulouse. She began her career at the Irish Competition Authority before completing the BCL at Oxford, where she specialised in law and computer science as well as UK and EU competition law. She then joined Cleary Gottlieb in Brussels, focusing on competition law and EU digital markets regulation.  Most recently, Niamh spent a year on secondment to Google’s competition team, gaining first-hand experience of antitrust within the technology sector. She is now preparing for the SQE before rejoining Cleary Gottlieb in the London competition team.

Samuel Isaac joined Hunters Law in October 2022 as a Trainee Solicitor and qualified in October 2024 into the Family Team. He works on all aspects of family law including disputes surrounding financial and children matters, relationship breakdown and pre / post-nuptial agreements.  Over the past year, much of his work has focused on International Child Abduction, both involving Hague and non-Hague jurisdictions. He has worked on the reported cases of G v B [2025] EWHC 1222 (Fam); and J v K [2025] EWHC 2175 (Fam).
Samuel is a committee member and minutes secretary for the European Circuit of Lawyers.

£10 registration fee or FREE to those at KCL registering with a KCL email address and to any other students.