GOH ESCOLAR 

Gérardine

Dr Gérardine Goh Escolar is Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Concurrently, she is Deputy Secretary General of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH), an international intergovernmental organisation, where she also heads two Divisions: the International Commercial, Digital and Financial Law Division, and the Transnational Litigation Division. Her work focuses on the international legal, economic and policy issues relating to emerging technology (blockchain and crypto, web3, fintech, communications, aerospace and outer space), inter-State and transnational dispute settlement, environmental protection and sustainability, and venture building.

Previously in practice, Dr Goh Escolar is an experienced counsel, advocate and consultant in international transactions, litigation and arbitration proceedings, having practiced first with a specialist international law boutique, and then with a top-tier global law firm headquartered in Amsterdam. Prior to that, she was Legal Advisor to the President of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, and before that, principal legal officer in the chambers of a Judge at the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. She has also served as legal officer in the service of the government of Germany, in-house counsel at a technology company (now part of a unicorn), and vice-president of external relations at an information technology startup.

Dr Goh Escolar has represented clients, and served as tribunal secretary and advisor, in arbitration proceedings under the ICC, ICSID, and UNCITRAL frameworks. She has worked on cases that turned on both private international law and public international law issues, including cases relating to privileges and jurisdictional immunities, maritime and land boundary delimitations, the law of armed conflict, genocide, environmental protection, investment treaty protection, foreign military sales, cross-border corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and energy markets. She has particular expertise on international law and policy as they relate to technology (information, digital, finance, communications and aerospace), sustainability, and social impact.

Dr Goh Escolar has extensive academic experience over two decades, having previously taught and conducted research at the International Space University, Leiden University, the European Centre for Space Law, the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, and the Singapore Management University. She was the 2015 Brandon Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge. Her research has won various awards, including the 2010 Social Science Book Prize of the International Academy of Astronautics, and the 2003 Diederiks-Verschoor medal of the International Institute of Space Law. Her publications include Dispute Settlement in Outer Space (Martinus Nijhoff 2007, author), The Cologne Commentary on Space Law: Volume I (Kluwer 2009, co-author and assistant editor), Contemporary Issues and Future Challenges in Air and Space Law (Air and Space Books 2011, co-author and co-editor), and International Law and Outer Space (Oxford UP forthcoming, author). Dr Goh Escolar is a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the International Law Association, and the International Institute of Space Law.

Dr Goh Escolar holds a doctorate (Dr. iur.) from Leiden University, and an LL.M. in public international law from University College London. She was placed on the overall Dean’s List for her LL.B. (Hons.), which was awarded by the National University of Singapore. She is a member of the Bar of New York State.

• Public International Law
• Private International Law
• International Space Law
• International Dispute Settlement
• Transnational and International Commercial and Financial Law
• International Humanitarian Law
• Technology, Policy, Economics and Law