Jennifer Robinson, 2025 Alum of the Year Finalist and award-winning human rights barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, is renowned for landmark cases in media, international, and human rights law. She has appeared before the Interational Court of Justice (ICJ) on climate change, represented Julian Assange, and mentors emerging legal leaders worldwide. She is also the co-author of How Many More Women? Exposing how the law silences women, breaking open the big judgments, developments and trends that have and continue to silence and disadvantage women. 

Q: You completed BAsSt/LLB (Hons) in 2006. Why did you choose to study at ANU Law School and what made you interested in human rights law and international law?   

A: It was the calibre of the law school and our academics, but also the opportunity to study a double degree, where I could have a more rounded program of study and gain in-country experience. For this reason, ANU was the obvious choice for me: I wanted to do a double degree of law with Asian Studies, which would allow me to live in country in Indonesia. ANU was then, and still is, one of the best in the world for Asian Studies, with the best in-country study opportunities. I was also interested in international law and human rights and our law school was then one of the few undergraduate degrees that offered international law as an elective. The course was taught by Professor Hilary Charlesworth (now a judge on the International Court of Justice) and Professor Robert McCorquodale (who went on to lead the British Institute of Comparative and International Law). 

I wasn't sure I wanted to practice law when I enrolled, so it was important for me to be able to explore different subjects which interested me to help me figure out where I wanted to end up. I actually went in thinking I might want to become a diplomat. It was my in-country experience in Indonesia that changed my mind – and showed me how I could use my legal skills to do some good for marginalised communities and helped me see my future as a lawyer. 

Q: Reflecting on your time at Law School, what were some of your highlights?  

A: One of the highlights was the opportunity to study abroad in Indonesia, as part of my Asian Studies degree. I volunteered there with legal aid and human rights organisations to put the legal skills I was learning to use in the real world. I worked on human rights cases in Indonesia and in Indonesian-occupied West Papua, which was such a compelling experience. It became clear to me then that I had to become a human rights lawyer. When I came back from West Papua, I knew exactly what I was at law school for. It motivated me and sparked a real passion for the law and what we can do with it – and you can see that reflected in my academic transcript: suddenly I was getting straight high distinctions. (A story for all the students struggling through their first few years of law school, it took me a while to find my passion for it too!) 

Learning from the incomparable Professor Hilary Charlesworth is the best experience you could hope for with international law in Australia. The experience is a big highlight of my time at the ANU. There is a generation of ANU students excited about international law because of her and I am one of them. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from her and the mentorship I received from her as my honours supervisor at the ANU. She encouraged me to do my honours thesis on West Papua, bringing together my passion and the cross-disciplinary skills I had developed in my double degree. She also encouraged me to pursue postgraduate study and a career in international law. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her encouragement. Her feminist approach to international law with Professor Christine Chinkin, the first of its kind, inspired and informed my book about free speech and violence against women with Dr Keio Yoshida, How Many More Women. For these reasons, it was extra special to appear before her, now she is an ICJ judge, as counsel in the climate change advisory proceedings last December. 

Q: You've accomplished so much, including being involved in significant human rights cases on state’s obligations in respect of climate change and human rights and being a writer being vocal about the structural violence in the legal system towards women.  How did the Law School equip you for these accomplishments?  

A: My undergraduate degree at the ANU offered me the opportunity to explore a range of public international law, international criminal law and human rights subjects which cemented my interest in these areas and laid the groundwork for my practice today. I had excellent lecturers – Hilary Charlesworth, Pene Mathew, Robert McCorquodale, Don Anton, and Andrew Byrnes. 

My favourite story I like to share with ANU students when I come to talk at the law school is that – when I think back, I remember sitting in my international law class as an undergraduate reading ICJ cases on a course taught by Robert McCorquodale and Hilary Charlesworth. I could never have imagined then that less than 15 years later, I would stand up in the ICJ to address the Court alongside Professor McCorquodale, the man who had taught me international law at the ANU, as counsel together in the Chagos Islands case. It was, for both of us, our first appearance as counsel in the ICJ. I also could never have imagined, sitting in that lecture hall listening to Hilary Charlesworth explain ICJ cases and the jurisdiction of the Court, that I would one day appear as counsel before her in the ICJ in the world’s biggest climate case, the climate change advisory proceedings.    

But that is what became possible for me after my time at the ANU – and could be possible for all ANU students. 

Q: What advice would you give someone thinking about studying at Law School? Is there anything you wish you had known before starting?   

A: I love being a lawyer – because of what we can achieve with the law – so I warn people I am the worst person to ask for advice for those thinking of going to law school because I’ll convince everyone to do it. Law is a great degree and will serve you well whatever you decide to do later. It is a language of power. So, understanding it will enrich your understanding of our society and our democracy. But I also think the law something you really have to want to do – and not something you do simply because you got the marks or you think its prestigious or it’s what society says “success” looks like. You need to want to do it for yourself. 

If I think about my time at law school, at least the early years, I was daunted by the law because I didn’t really know any lawyers growing up and came from a regional public school where few people went to university, let alone to study law. I was suddenly surrounded by all these private school kids who seemed to know so much more than me – their parents were lawyers, or they knew lawyers and judges from their school and community networks. Their path into the law seemed so much clearer and more easily available to them. And they certainly weren’t having to work the three jobs I did, alongside full-time study, to pay their way through university. I found coming up against that privilege during my time at law school was difficult and quite confronting. I wish I had been warned about it and there were spaces to talk about it.  For those who come from similar backgrounds to mine, don’t let that put you off pursuing the law. We can’t ignore privilege and we need to acknowledge that it exists and how it manifests, and talk about it. But don’t let it stop you. I didn’t.