LKI Appoints Law of the Sea Expert, Natalie Klein as Non-resident Fellow

August 6, 2018    Reading Time: 2 minutes

Reading Time: 2 min read

The Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKI), Sri Lanka’s leading foreign policy think tank, has appointed Professor Natalie Klein, an expert on the law of the sea and international dispute settlement, as a Nonresident Fellow.

Professor Klein is a Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, where she teaches and researches in international law, with a focus on law of the sea and dispute settlement. Professor Klein is the author of Dispute Settlement and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Cambridge University Press, 2005) and Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea (Oxford University Press, 2011). She has edited several books and published over 70 other works on international law, including in foremost legal journals such as the International & Comparative Law Quarterly (published by Cambridge University Press) and leading reference books, including the Oxford Handbook of International Adjudication and the Max Planck Encyclopaedia of Public International Law.

Prior to joining UNSW, Professor Klein was at Macquarie University where she served as Dean of Macquarie Law School from 2011 to 2017, and Acting Head of the Department for Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism at Macquarie in 2013-2014. She provides advice, undertakes consultancies and provides media commentary on law of the sea issues. Previously, Professor Klein worked in the international litigation and arbitration practice of the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP in New York, served as counsel to the then newly-independent Government of Eritrea (1998-2002), and was a consultant to the Office of Legal Affairs at the United Nations. Her masters and doctorate in law were earned at Yale Law School in the United States and she is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.

Given her extensive knowledge of the law of the sea and dispute resolution, and the increasing importance of these fields to Sri Lanka and the region, Professor Klein is expected to make a valuable contribution to understanding new developments in these fields, including their implications for foreign policy. Her appointment will also add maritime and dispute resolution expertise to LKI’s Global Governance programme, which analyses issues of Sri Lanka’s international relations, international law, and security. Professor Klein’s appointment follows her participation in LKI’s Seminar on Emerging Issues in the Indian Ocean in June 2017, supported by Hemas Holdings PLC, and her subsequent writing and presentations on Sri Lanka.

LKI is a think tank that analyses Sri Lanka’s international relations and strategic interests, to provide insights and recommendations that advance justice, peace, prosperity, and sustainability. The Institute reflects the vision of the late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar by promoting the country’s intellectual profile in foreign policy research and engagement. For more details visit www.lki.lk.