Dr Christopher Ward SC

Practice Overview

Dr Christopher Ward SC is a highly experienced and successful advocate before trial courts, appellate courts and arbitral tribunals. He is a specialist in public international law.

He has a multidisciplinary international practice as Senior Counsel, admitted in New South Wales, Australia, and works globally in all aspects of public and private international law and governmental disputes.

He is an internationally recognised expert in the fields of public and private international law where he has particular expertise in boundary disputes, foreign judgments, the law of the sea, aviation, resources and investor-state arbitral disputes. He regularly advises and represents States, recently including the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America and he advises and represents listed public companies and members of the diplomatic corps on questions of international law.

He appears regularly in Australia and elsewhere as an advocate in cases which involve international law and accepts instructions in areas as diverse as human rights, maritime boundaries, investor-state arbitration and diplomatic immunity. He is known globally for his extensive pro bono work in human rights and capital punishment cases. He was the global President of the International Law Association from 2018-2020 and is an Honorary Professor of International Law at the Australian National University where he teaches public international law.

Christopher is recognised as a leading practitioner in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2024 guide in their coverage of the Australia Bar, saying, ‘Chris is a superb advocate, always attuned to what the bench is thinking. Eloquent and agile. That is the same at first instance, on appeal, or before a bench of seven judges in the High Court of Australia.’