Naomi Hart > Essex Court Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
Essex Court Chambers Offices
24 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS
LONDON
WC2A 3EG
England
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Naomi Hart
Position
Naomi has a broad commercial litigation and arbitration practice. She has experience in civil fraud, conflict of laws, agency, shipping and general commercial disputes, and has been instructed as both junior and sole counsel.
She acts frequently in the High Court, having recently appeared in the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division and the Queen’s Bench Division. Her commercial arbitration experience includes proceedings under the DIFC, LCIA, ICC and LMAA Rules. She has experience in the courts of the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
Alongside her commercial practice, Naomi specialises in public international law. She has acted in two sets of proceedings before the International Court of Justice, as well as in inter-State arbitral proceedings before a specialised agency of the United Nations.
She has experience of investor-State disputes under both bilateral and multilateral investment treaties and in proceedings under the SCC Rules, the UNCITRAL Rules and the ICSID Convention.
She has advised governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations on international legal questions relating to occupation of territory, war crimes, privileges and immunities, and inter-State espionage under public international law.
She attained a doctorate from the University of Cambridge on the topic of espionage and public international law, for which she was awarded the Faculty of Law’s Yorke Prize for a thesis “of exceptional quality, which makes a substantial contribution to its relevant field of legal knowledge”.
Career
2016: Call to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn;
2013: Admission as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Education
2012–16: Doctorate in Public International Law, St John’s College, University of Cambridge (Yorke Prize);
2015–16: Bar Professional Training Course, BPP Law School, London (Outstanding, ranked second across all BPP locations);
2011: Bachelor of Laws, University of Sydney (First Class Honours, ranked second in year);
2009: Bachelor of Arts, University of Sydney (University Medal and First Class Honours, ranked first in year in History)
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > International human rights and criminal law
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 2Naomi Hart – Essex Court Chambers ‘Naomi is excellent, a true expert in public international law. She has super judgement, is a really hard worker and very popular with clients. Pragmatic but well-thought-out advice. A first choice junior for anything to do with public international law.’
London Bar > Public international law
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 2Naomi Hart – Essex Court Chambers ‘Naomi is highly reliable, diligent, and competent. She has outstanding drafting skills and pays close attention to details. An invaluable member of the legal team.’
Essex Court Chambers is experienced in inter-state disputes, investor state proceedings and advisory opinions concerning public international law, where the set’s barristers have been instructed in numerous cases before the international courts and tribunals, namely the ICJ, ECHR and ITLOS. Among the sets work highlights is the Climate Change advisory proceedings before ITLOS and before the ICJ in which Ben Juratowitch is acting on behalf of the UK and leads Amy Sander before ITLOS regarding questions of state obligations to curb climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. Further members of the chambers involved in the ICJ case are Dan Sarooshi KC who represents the UAE and Sam Wordsworth KC who is acting on behalf of the government of Belize, leading Sean Aughey and Naomi Hart. Vaughan Lowe KC is part of a team representing South Africa, and Malcolm Shaw KC is part of a team representing Israel, in the South Africa v Israel ICJ case, in which South Africa alleges that aspects of Israel’s military response to the October 7th 2023 attack on it by Hamas amount to genocide. Tariq Baloch joined from 3 Verulam Buildings in October 2024.
London Bar > International arbitration: counsel
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3Naomi Hart – Essex Court Chambers ‘Naomi is very articulate and has a very good legal mind. She is able to master complex legal issues very well.’
London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 4Naomi Hart – Essex Court Chambers ‘Naomi is a star in the field of human rights law.’
Essex Court Chambers is a noteworthy set in the human rights space, with the team of ‘excellent human rights and public law practitioners‘ often instructed in high-profile cases with crossover public international law issues. Dan Sarooshi KC is ‘very knowledgeable and has good judgement‘. In a prominent case highlight, Hugh Mercer KC and Naomi Hart acted for the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission as intervener on behalf of the applicants in Dillon and Ors v Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, a challenge concerning the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023. The case involved issues of the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights, the Windsor Framework and the Good Friday Agreement.