CHAMBERS

Clarissa Rodio
(Member)
Guernica 37

Called: 2021

Introduction

Clarissa Rodio is a member of the Bar of England and Wales and joined Chambers upon successful completion of pupillage in April 2023. She has a mixed domestic and international practice and accepts instructions in most of Chambers’ practice areas. In addition to being a barrister, Clarissa is an accredited mediator.

Her domestic practice consists of criminal law and extradition. She has defended in the Magistrates’ and Crown Courts, and she has acted for Requested Persons in extradition matters at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Internationally, Clarissa accepts instructions in Public/Private International Law, International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law, Business and Human Rights, including sanctions. She has dealt with matters before international courts, including the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the International Criminal Court, and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers.

Current international instructions

Libya

Representing a Libyan corporation which is subject to financial sanctions and asset freezes in the UK.

Yemen

Actively involved in efforts to bring individuals and corporations, allegedly implicated in the Yemeni conflict, to justice.

Syria

Co-drafter of an ‘INTERPOL Guide for Syrian Human Rights Defenders’, which provides practical tools and strategies to ensure the safety of Syrian Human Rights Defenders subject to abusive Red Notices following Syria’s reintegration to the INTERPOL systems.

Romania

Assisting in the representation of an Israeli-French citizen in respect of matters concerning the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) alert, specifically in relation to the request for urgent deletion of the data from the SIS II database which has been unlawfully retained, constituting an abuse of process.

Recent domestic instructions

Crime

Regularly instructed on, inter alia, common assault; harassment; possession of offensive weapons in public and private places; drug driving; drug offences; criminal damage; theft; fraud; possession of false identity documents.

Extradition

Assisted in acting for the Judicial Authority from the following States: Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy.

Regularly instructed to act for Requested Persons from the following States: Poland, Romania, Croatia, Lithuania, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain.

Recent Cases

R v PM: Wood Green Crown Court (2023) – Secured a community order in the sentencing of a defendant who committed further offences during the operational period of a suspended sentence order and failed to comply with the rehabilitation activity requirement of the order.

R v G: Margate Magistrates’ Court (2023) – No evidence offered on theft. Secured a reduced financial penalty in the sentencing of a defendant charged with fraud by false representation.

R v A: Stratford Magistrates’ Court (2023) – Secured an acquittal in a case of assault by beating (domestic violence) and secured a financial penalty with regard to theft, possession of offensive weapons in a private place, and possession of cocaine.

R v L: Margate Magistrates’ Court (2023) – Secured an acquittal in a case of racially aggravated common assault, assault by beating (x2) and criminal damage. Secured a conditional discharge with regard to racially aggravated assault by beating and racially aggravated criminal damage, and successfully opposed a restraining order.

Norway v B: Westminster Magistrates’ Court (2022) – Secured bail for a Requested Person sought under a conviction warrant by Norway for the following offences: (1) aggravated robbery, (2) attempted aggravated robbery and (3) having unlawfully manufactured, imported, acquired, stored or conveyed a substance that is deemed a drug, or having aided and abetted thereto. The JA gave oral notice of their intention to appeal, which was subsequently withdrawn.

R v A: Westminster Magistrates’ Court (2022) – Secured a community order in the sentencing of a defendant charged with handling stolen goods and burglary with intent to steal.

R v T: Romford Magistrates’ Court (2022) – Secured an acquittal in a case of being in charge of a vehicle with excess alcohol and being in charge of a vehicle with excess cocaine after getting the Crown to withdraw their case against the defendant.

Previous experience

Prior to commencing pupillage in April 2022, Clarissa worked as a Junior Associate since January 2021. She has developed experience in international criminal law, international human rights and extradition. She was a member of the Defence team for Nasim Haradinaj before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, holding the position of Legal Associate.

Clarissa collaborated with the team of barristers who were assisting the Government of the Netherlands in obtaining justice and accountability for all the victims of torture in the Syrian Arab Republic. Further to this, Clarissa was cooperating with members of Chambers in drafting submissions to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Unit (SO15) on crimes linked to Syria.

As a Junior Associate, she was part of the legal team representing victims of Yemen’s civil war, calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Saudi-led coalition in the Republic of Yemen. Clarissa delivered a presentation in this regard at the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and was subsequently appointed to manage and coordinate a project related to the conflict in Yemen, specifically focusing on the field of mercenaries and private military contractors (PMCs), the use of cluster munitions and the role of U.S. corporations in manufacturing these weapons.

Throughout her time at Guernica 37 Chambers, Clarissa assisted in drafting legal memoranda, opinions and submissions on various international and human rights law issues involving, inter alia, Syria, Yemen, Russia, Romania, Montenegro, India.

Clarissa completed her BPTC at City University of London in 2020 and achieved an LLM with Distinction, which was undertaken concurrently with the BPTC. During the BPTC, she had the opportunity to specialise in Financial Crime and Company Law, and to obtain a deeper insight into these fields in practice. Throughout 2019-2020, Clarissa worked pro bono as a caseworker for APPEAL, a charity law practice that fights miscarriages of justice and her role entailed analysing criminal cases, conducting legal research involving grounds for an appeal against conviction, analysing the Judge’s summing-up and identifying gaps in the evidence as well as various inconsistencies that rendered each case unsafe.

Education

BSc (Hons) Criminology, London Metropolitan University – First Class Honours (Top 10%)

LLM Criminal Justice, Queen Mary University of London – Merit

BPTC, City Law School – Very Competent

LLM, City Law School – Distinction

Memberships

The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn

Criminal Bar Association (CBA)

Association of Young International Criminal Lawyers (AYICL)

Defence Extradition Lawyers Forum (DELF)

Young Legal Aid Lawyers (YLAL)

Appointments and Awards

CPS Panel (Level 1)

Queen Mary University of London, LLM Scholarship

City University of London, GDL Scholarship

Publications

Clarissa Rodio, ‘Modern Warfare: Corporate Mercenaries and Wars for Profit’, Center for International Relations and Sustainable Development (CIRSD) in collaboration with the Association of Young International Criminal Lawyers (AYICL), 1 December 2021.

Clarissa Rodio, ‘Historia Magistra Vitae: Memory and Oblivion’, Association of Young International Criminal Lawyers (AYICL), 1 March 2022.

Expertise

Domestic Criminal Law

Extradition & Mutual Legal Assistance

Sanctions

Business and Human Rights

Government Advisory Work

Public International Law

Private International Law

International Criminal Law

International Human Rights Law

Languages