The members of Essex Court Chambers are delighted to announce that Dame Rosalyn Higgins DBE QC has recently been honoured with the award of a Dame Grand Cross (GBE) in the New Year’s Honours list 2019.
The short citation included in New Year’s Honours 2019: Foreign and Commonwealth Office press release states that the GBE goes to Dame Rosalyn Higgins DBE, QC “for her services to international law and justice”.
The longer citation for the award of the GBE states the following:
“Dame Rosalyn Higgins is recognised for her outstanding service to international law, human rights and the United Nations. Dame Rosalyn has made, since the 1960s, an unparalleled contribution to the advancement of international law, and in particular to the settlement of international disputes, to the law of the United Nations, and to the development and practical implementation of the law of human rights. Her highly distinguished career has spanned a wide range of roles including a fourteen year term on the International Court of Justice, three of which she served as the Court’s President, introducing new measures directed at efficiency and modernisation. She was the first and only woman to hold this position.”
Dame Rosalyn Higgins QC was a member of Essex Court Chambers from 1975 up until her election to the International Court of Justice in 1995. Dame Rosalyn joined Chambers after having done a period of pupillage with the late Anthony Colman QC (subsequently Mr Justice Colman). She became the first member of Chambers to specialise in Public International Law, establishing Chambers’ pre-eminent reputation in this field.
