Miriam Helena Boxberg (Member) Guernica 37

Called: 2018

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Qualified to accept Public Access instructions

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Miriam is currently employed by Client Earth to assist with strategic climate change litigations in courts in the UK and abroad. During this time, she is unable to be instructed through Chambers.

Introduction

Miriam is a Barrister practising in international crime, human rights law, public international law, environmental law, and international arbitrations. She advises individuals, governments, NGOs, and international law firms.

Current work

In criminal matters, Miriam acts both for the defence and the prosecution.

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At the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, Miriam is instructed to defend Nasim Haradinaj, a former Kosovo Liberation Army fighter and vice president of the KLA War Veterans’ Association, accused of distributing allegedly confidential documents pertaining to war crimes investigations, thereby obstructing the course of justice. 

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Miriam is also advising a suspect under investigation by the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office in proceedings challenging his continued investigation. 

Miriam has drafted extensive submissions (including appeals), cross-examination roadmaps for trial and she has interviewed witnesses in Kosovo.

At the People’s Tribunal for the Murder of Journalists, Miriam is assisting the Lead Prosecutor, Almudena Bernabeu and her advisor Sir Howard Morrison KCMG CBE QC, and she works closely with the NGO Free Press Unlimited. This process initiated by non-governmental organisations seeks to establish whether the Mexican, Sri Lankan and Syrian authorities committed breaches of international law by failing to investigate three journalists’ killings.

Miriam is part of a team of Guernica 37 barristers advising the government of the Netherlands on bringing a case before the International Court of Justice against Syria for violations of the United Nations Convention against Torture. In addition to her advisory work, Miriam has drafted witness statements of Syrian torture victims. 

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Miriam has also advised another government on specific requirements and hurdles for bringing a case under the Genocide Convention.

Independently, Miriam has been instructed to advise a leading Dutch international arbitration firm on matters of English law.

Previous experience

Prior to coming to the Bar, Miriam was a Judicial Assistant at the International Court of Justice and a lawyer in the International Arbitration Group of WilmerHale LLP for three years. 

At the International Court of Justice, Miriam worked with Judge Sir Christopher Greenwood GBE CMG QC and Judge Kirill Gevorgian and his predecessor Judge Leonid Skotnikov. Miriam assisted the British and Russian judges with legal research and drafting in relation to inter-state cases brought under the Genocide Convention, as well as regional and bilateral treaties. After the ICJ, Miriam worked at the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs in New York as part of the Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs.

At WilmerHale LLP, Miriam worked on international investment arbitrations at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and international commercial arbitrations under various rules (UNCITRAL, LCIA, DIS and NIA), including enforcement proceedings in the Dutch Supreme Court. Miriam also advised on public international law, international sanctions, international trade law, including disputes before the World Trade Organization, and EU law. 

Miriam also gained experience acting pro bono for a Defence team at the International Criminal Court and as an Employment Law Volunteer for the Free Representation Unit. 

During her legal studies, she held legal research positions at the British Embassy The Hague and in academia (at the universities of Cambridge and The Hague), worked on law journals (as a Managing Editor of the UK Supreme Court Yearbook and an Editor of the Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law) and she interned at international courts and tribunals (ICC, ICJ and ICTY).

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Education

LLM in International Law, University of Cambridge

LLB in International and European Law, with distinction, The Hague University, The Netherlands

BPTC, very competent

GDL, with commendation

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Memberships

The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn

Association of Young International Criminal Lawyers

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Appointments and Awards

International Criminal Court, List of Assistants to Counsel

UK Attorney General’s Office, “Junior Junior” Panel 

The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn

- Ann Felicity Goddard Scholarship for pupillage, 2021

- Residential Scholarship and Holt Award for the BPTC, 2016-17

- David Karmel Award for the GDL, 2015-16

German Federal Foreign Office and Stiftung Mercator, Mercator Fellowship on International Affairs, 2014-15

University of Cambridge, Newnham College, RM Jackson Award, 2014

Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, LLM Award, 2013-14

Stichting VSB, LLM Award, 2013-14

The Hague University, Valedictorian, 2013

German American Lawyers Association (DAJV), scholarship for a conference at Columbia Law School, NYC, 2012

Dutch UNESCO Commission, scholarship to attend a conference in Israel as a Dutch delegate, 2011

German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes), scholarships for study abroad, internships and a language course (Standard Arabic), 2010-17

Publications

Miriam H. Boxberg, “Not the Whole Truth – The Khmer Rouge Tribunal’s Contribution to Facing the Past in Cambodia” Internationale Politik (journal of the German Council on Foreign Relations) (2016). 

Miriam H. Boxberg, “Arbitral Decision, Brazil – Export Financing Programme for Aircraft, WT/DS46/ARB” Oxford Reports on International Law, International Trade Law Decisions (2015). 

Miriam H. Boxberg and Catherine E. Gascoigne, “Human Rights Law” Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law, Vol. 3, Issue 1 (2014). 

Silke Jurczyga and Miriam Boxberg, “Collective Action in International Arbitration: Problems and Prospects,” in Christian P and Alberti C, DAJV Newsletter (journal of the German American Lawyers Association) (2013).

Miriam also contributed to the third edition of Gary B. Born, International Commercial Arbitration (Kluwer Law International, 2020) and to Amal Clooney and Philippa Webb, The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law (Oxford University Press, 2021).

Expertise

Public International Law

Government Advisory Work

International Criminal Law

Business and Human Rights

International Commercial Law, Arbitrations 

International Climate Justice

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Languages

Dutch (native proficiency)

German (native proficiency)

English (full professional working proficiency)

French (professional working proficiency)

Spanish (limited working proficiency) 

Standard Arabic (elementary proficiency)

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Recent Cases

Kosovo Specialist Chambers: The Prosecutor v. Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj

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