Associate Professor
Esmé Shirlow
Associate Professor
PhD (King's College London), LL.M.(Hons) (Cambridge), LL.B. (Hons.) (ANU), BA (ANU), GDLP (ANU)

Esmé Shirlow Esmé Shirlow researches and teaches in the fields of international investment law, international dispute settlement, and public international law. She is currently conducting ARC-funded research on how the International Court of Justice has evolved and how it has consolidated its position as a central organisation in the international legal order. Her work integrates doctrinal analysis with empirical and socio-legal methodologies.

Her publications include Judging at the Interface: Deference to Domestic Authority in International Adjudication(Cambridge University Press, 2021), which received honourable mentions for the 2022 Australian Legal Research Awards and the 2023 ANZSIL Book Prize; The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties in Investor-State Disputes: History, Evolution and Future (Kluwer Law International, 2022, co-edited with Kiran Nasir Gore), which was awarded the 2024 American Society of International Law Certificate of Merit for High Technical Craftsmanship and Utility to Lawyers and Scholars; and By Peaceful Means: International Adjudication and Arbitration (Oxford University Press, 2024, co-edited with Joan Donoghue, Charles Brower, Cian Murphy and Cymie Payne). Her articles have appeared in the ICSID Review, the British Yearbook of International Law, the Journal of International Dispute Settlement and Law & Society Review, among others.

Esmé is also a practising barrister at Blackburn Chambers. She advises and acts as counsel in international proceedings and has served as an expert consultant to the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the Centre for Trade and Investment Law established by the Government of India. Before joining academia, Esmé served in the Australian Attorney-General's Department's Office of International Law, working on international disputes to which Australia was party and has also previously worked as a legal associate to several investment treaty tribunals. 
 

Appointments

Significant research publications

View more publications on the ANU Researchers website

Link to ANU researchers profile

 

Grants

Books & edited collections

Refereed journal articles

Book chapters

Conference papers & presentations

Selected Conference Papers/Presentations

2022

  • Approaches of International Courts and Tribunals to the Award of Compensation in International Private Property Cases and Implications for the Reform of Investor-State Arbitration (2 June 2022, International Institute for Sustainable Development)
  • Meet the Scholars – Cutting Edge Issues in International Dispute Resolution (7 April 2022, American Society of International Law, Dispute Resolution Interest Group)

2021

  • ‘International Law and the Unitary State: Inertia or Innovation?’ (1 July 2021, Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law 2021 Annual Conference)
  • ‘Enhancing Urban Climate Resilience: The Role of International Law’ (24 June 2021, International Union for Conservation of Nature Academy of Environmental Law & Tilburg Sustainability Centre Workshop)
  • ‘Judging at the Interface: Deference to Domestic Decision-Making Authority in International Adjudication’ (10 June 2021, American Society for International Law, International Economic Law Interest Group Summer Book Series)

2020

  • ‘Reshaping International Investment Law to Respond to Disconnects between International Law-Makers and Law-Breakers’ (1-2 September 2020, Society of Legal Scholars 2020 Annual Conference)
  • ‘Locating Deference – The Function of Deference in Legal Adjudication’ (24-25 November 2020, PluriCourts-iCourts ‘Concepts & Methods’ Workshop)

2019

  • “Whose Gaze Matters? Disconnects between International Law-Makers and Law-Breakers”, presented at a CIPL Workshop (“International law-making away from the public gaze”), Canberra Australia, 4 February 2019
  • “Deference to Domestic Expertise in the International Adjudication of Private Property Disputes”, presented at the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law’s Annual Conference, Canberra Australia, 5 July 2019
  • “The Rule of Law, Authority and Deference to Domestic Decision-Making in International Adjudication”, presented at the Asian Society of International Law’s Annual Conference, Manila The Philippines, 22 August 2019
  • “International Articulations of the Rule of Law: Deference to Domestic Decision-Making in International Adjudication”, presented at the Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, Preston UK, 6 September 2019
  • “The Promises and Pitfalls of Investor-State Mediation”, presented on a panel convened by the International Economic Law Interest Group as part of the European Society of International Law’s Annual Conference, Athens Greece, 12 September 2019
  • “Democracy and Deference to Domestic Decision-Making in International Adjudication”, presented at the European Journal of International Law’s 30th Anniversary Symposium, New York USA, 19 September 2019

Commissioned reports

Government submissions

Case notes & book reviews

Other

  • ‘COVID-19 and International Law: Sketching the Parameters’ (2021) Australian Year Book of International Law 3-12 (introduction to a special issue, co-authored with Imogen Saunders, David Lettts and Donald R Rothwell)

Blog Posts

Interviews

Currently supervising

  • Primary supervisor to:
  • Gidey Assefa
    Xiwen Tan
  • External committee at KU Leuven:
  • Agata Zwolankiewicz

LLM Masters thesis supervision

Dr. Shirlow currently supervises students undertaking the Graduate Research Unit on topics related to international law and/or investment treaty law and arbitration.

  • 2020 - J Cummings, "International Property Law and Investor-State Dispute Settlement"
  • 2020 - A Bell-Rowe, "The Spectrum of Relevance: How Much Does a State's Place on the Monism-Dualism Spectrum Affect the Influence of International Law on that State's Regulation of Administrative Decision-Making?"
  • 2019 - B McDonald, "Anti-doping proceedings before the Court of Arbitration for Sport: Lawful or foul play? A focus on proportionality and Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights"

Honours thesis supervision

Dr. Shirlow currently supervises students undertaking Supervised Research Papers (Hons) on topics related to international law and/or investment treaty law and arbitration.

  • 2020 - L Abrahams, "Can the Due Diligence Principle Overcome Difficulties in Attributing State Responsibility in Cyberspace?"
  • 2019 - S Collins, "Hold Outs and Hold Ups: The Role of Specially Affected States in the Formation of Customary International Law"
  • 2019 - Z Qayyum, "All Bark and No Bite: The Enforceability of Proposed Reforms to Investor-State Dispute Settlement"

Current courses

YearCourse codeCourse name
2023

LAWS8336

Class #1563

International Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration
2023

LAWS8182

Class #1550

Principles of International Law

Previous courses

YearCourse codeCourse name
2021

LAWS8336

Class #1611

International Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration
2021

LAWS8182

Class #1575

Principles of International Law

Past courses

  • At ANU:
    • International Law (LAWS2250/6250)
    • Advanced International Law (LAWS4264)
    • Jessup Moot (LAWS4010)
    • International Investment Treaty Law and Arbitration (LAWS4306/8336)
    • Principles of International Law (LAWS8182)
  • International Investment Law (Visiting Lecturer, King's College London)
  • Public International Law (Visiting Lecturer, King's College London and Sessional Tutor, Australian National University)
  • Various (Jabal Centre, Australian National University)
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Research themes

International Dispute Resolution
International Economic Law
International Law

Contacts

esme.shirlow@anu.edu.au
ANU Law School, Fellows Rd, Acton ACT 2600