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Dr Stephen Allen, BA (Kent); LLM (Bristol), PhD (Bristol); Barrister (Inner Temple); FHEA

Stephen

Senior Lecturer in Law

Email: s.r.allen@qmul.ac.uk
Room Number: Mile End
Website: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1256485

Profile

Dr Stephen Allen is a Senior Lecturer in Law at Queen Mary, University of London. He is also a qualified barrister and maintains a door tenancy at 5 Essex Court Chambers, London. He has written numerous articles which have been published in leading law journals, including the ICLQ, Modern Law Review and the Human Rights Law Review. His monographs include: The Chagos Islanders and International Law (Hart Publishing, 2014) and Title to Territory in International Law: A Temporal Analysis (Ashgate, 2003, with Joshua Castellino). He has also co-edited several books: The Oxford Handbook of Jurisdiction in International Law (OUP, 2019); The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Marine Areas (Hart, 2019); Fifty Years of the British Indian Ocean Territory: Legal Perspectives (Springer, 2018); and Reflections on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Hart, 2011).

Until 2018, Dr Allen was a Co-Director of the Centre for European & International Legal Affairs (CEILA). He is also a member of the Centre for Small States and the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context. He has organised several events through these research centres: including, in 2017/18, a seminar on the CJEU’s decision in the Western Sahara Campaign Case; in 2016/17, a workshop on ‘The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination at Fifty: Achievements and Prospects’; and, in 2015/16, a conference on ‘Fifty Years of the British Indian Ocean Territory’; he also co-convened the CEILA/CLSGC Annual Seminar Series on Jurisdiction in that year.

He was a Visiting Research Fellow (2019) at the Law School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia; a visiting scholar at the Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, at the University of the Arctic, Norway (May 2019),  the Stockholm Centre for International Law and Justice, Stockholm University (2015 and 2019), and Suffolk University Law School, Boston, USA (2013).

Undergraduate Teaching

  • LLB Public International Law (LAW6032)
  • LLB Equity & Trusts (LAW5003 and LAW6056)

Research

Dr Allen’s main research interests lie in the field of Public International Law. Specifically, the areas of: (1) statehood; territoriality; and self-determination (especially in relation to Non-Self-Governing Territories); (2) the rights of Indigenous peoples (terrestrial and maritime claims); (3) the jurisdictional challenges associated with cyberspace (especially criminal law aspects and data protection); (4) maritime disputes and the Law of the Sea more generally.

The Chagos Islanders and Internationa Law 

Dr Allen has a special interest in the international law aspects of the legal disputes relating to the Chagos Islands (British Indian Ocean Territory). He has published extensively on this topic, including a sole-authored monograph – The Chagos Islanders and International Law (2014, Hart Publishing). This book offered an original and sustained evaluation of the international legal rights belonging to the Chagos Islanders in relation to the Chagos Archipelago (British Indian Ocean Territory/BIOT) and the concomitant obligations of the Administering Power of this ‘British Overseas Territory’. He has advised the Bancoult legal team on international legal aspects generated by the Bancoult litigation in ithe English courts and he has delivered numerous presentations concerning the Chagossian situation at events organised by leading academic institutions. He recently published: ‘Self-determination, the Chagos Advisory Opinion and the Chagossians’, (2020) 69(1) ICLQ 203-220. This article evolved out of presentations he was invited to deliver at events organized on the Chagos Advisory Opinion by the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law; the British Institute of International & Comparative Law (BIICL); the Stockholm Centre for International law and Justice; and the University of Queensland in 2019, in response to the ICJ’s Chagos Advisory Opinion.

The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Marine Areas

Dr Allen was one of the editors of The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Marine Areas (Hart, 2019). This collaborative research project, which involved 22 scholars from around the world, was generously sponsored by the Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, at the University of the Arctic, Norway. A two-day workshop was held in Tromso on 7 & 8 June 2018 to facilitate its development. Dr Allen has a long-standing interest in the field of indigenous rights in international law (see, e.g. Allen and Xanthaki (eds.), Reflections on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Hart, 2011). He was a member of the International Law Association’s Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2009-2012). Dr Allen also has a scholarly interest in the Law of the Sea. In September 2016, he was invited to participate in an expert workshop on ‘Access to Compulsory Binding Dispute Resolution under the Law of the Sea Convention: A Survey of Issues’ organised by the JCLOS. The papers from the workshop were published in a special issue of Ocean Development and International Law in 2017.

Jurisdiction in International Law

Dr Allen is also interested in the jurisdictional challenges presented by cyberspace for international law. He was the originator and Editor in Chief of Allen, Costelloe, Fitzmaurice, Gragl, and Guntrip (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Jurisdiction in International Law (OUP, 2019). This major collaborative project involved several QMUL colleagues as co-editors and contributors and many of the leading scholars in the field. To facilitate this publishing project, Dr Allen (and Dr Gragl) also convened the 2015/16 Annual QMUL Seminar Series involving the Centre for Law and Society in a Global Context (CLSGC) and the Centre for European & International Legal Affairs (CEILA) on the theme of jurisdiction.

Dr Allen was a Member of the Task Force for Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters and Electronic IT Data in the EU: Ensuring Efficient Cross-Border Cooperation and Mutual Trust Project (Oct 2018-Jan 2019). This Project was co-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS). A Draft Report – ‘E-evidence in Criminal Matters: Policy Priorities and Key Legal Challenges within the EU and Across the Atlantic’ – was produced in August 2019.

Dr Allen was invited to lead workshops on the 2014 Munich Advanced Course in International Law (MACIL) at Munich University, which was dedicated to the theme of Cyberspace and International Law. He also participated in the ‘Cyberspace, the Cloud, and Cross-Border Criminal Investigation’, Expert Workshop. 19 December 2013, Tilburg Law School and the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice. The meeting examined the international legal questions raised by cross-border criminal investigations in ‘The Cloud’ with a view to developing Dutch national legislation in this area. This project resulted in the production of the following report: Bert-Jaap Koops and Morag Goodwin, (2014) ‘Cyberspace, the Cloud, and Cross-Border Criminal Investigation: The Limits and Possibilities of International Law’.

Works in progress / conference papers

 

  • Stephen Allen, ‘Self-determination and the Implications of the Chagos Advisory Opinion’ at the Law School at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia (6 August 2019).
  • Stephen Allen, ‘EU/Morocco Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and Western Sahara’, at the Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, at the University of the Arctic, Norway (22 May 2019).
  • Stephen Allen, key-note lecture at two-day workshop on the ICJ’s Chagos Advisory Opinion and the General Assembly. The event was organised by the Lauterpacht Centre of International Law, Cambridge University (11-12 April 2019).
  • Stephen Allen and Pål Wrange, ‘Two Cases of Self-determination – the Chagos Archipelago and Western Sahara – and the Uses of ICJ Advisory Opinions’ (26 March 2019).
  • Stephen Allen, ‘Analysis of the Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius 1965’: a rapid reaction seminar, organised by BIICL, on the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Chagos Islands (18 March 2019).
  • Stephen Allen, ‘Comments on Self-determination, Human Rights and the Chagos Advisory Proceedings at the ICJ’, the International Court of Justice and Chagos Workshop, St Gallen University, Switzerland, 19-20 October 2018.
  • Stephen Allen, ‘Traditional Fishing Entitlements, the Law of the Sea Convention and the Jurisprudence of Indigenous Rights’, Workshop The Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Marine Areas, Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, at the University of the Arctic, Norway, 7-8 June 2018.
  • Stephen Allen, ‘Enforcing Criminal Jurisdiction in the Clouds’, presentation delivered at a half-day workshop on ‘Extraterritorial Jurisdiction in a Changing Global World’, hosted by BIICL and Sussex University, (14 September 2017).
  • Stephen Allen: ‘Adjudicating External Human Rights Violations: The Decisions of the EU Courts in the Western Sahara Cases’, ICON Conference (Copenhagen), (6 July 2017).
  • Stephen Allen, ‘Article 297 of UNCLOS and the Scope of Mandatory Jurisdiction’, delivered as part of a two-day workshop on ‘Access to Compulsory Binding Dispute Resolution under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: A Survey of Issues’ Workshop, Jebsen Centre for the Law of the Sea, University of the Arctic, Norway, (21-22 September 2016).
  • Stephen Allen, ‘Historiography and the Disputes Concerning the Chagos Archipelago’, Seminar on the Mauritian/UK Arbitration Case concerning the Chagos Archipelago, International Law Association Regional Seminar, Nottingham University, (2 December 2015).
  • Stephen Allen: ‘Remembering and Forgetting – Protecting Privacy Rights in the Digital Age’, 2015 Amsterdam Privacy Conference (23-26 October 2015)
  • Stephen Allen, ‘The Chagos Islanders and International Law’, Stockholm Centre for International Law and Justice, Stockholm University (26 August 2015).

 

Publications

Books (research monographs & edited collections)

Book Chapters

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Law Journals/Periodicals

Short Articles, Blog-posts, Case Notes and Book Reviews

Supervision

 

  • Satya Talwar Mouland (2017-present). Queen Mary Open Scholarship Award. Research project: State immunity and Arbitration in International Law. I was the originator of the internal HSS faculty funding application and I am the Principal Supervisor. Satya is in the third year of her PhD.
  • Kathryn Allinson (2016-present). Queen Mary Open Scholarship Award. Research project: State Responsibility for Refugee Flows. Second Supervisor. Kathryn entered the writing up phase of her PhD in September 2019.

Public Engagement

Legal Practice

Dr Allen is a fully qualified Barrister with experience of legal practice. He maintains a Door Tenant at 5 Essex Court Chambers, Temple, in London. He has advised the Bancoult legal team on the international legal aspects of the appeals in a number of public law cases: including advice on the implications of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion concerning the Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius 1965 (25 February 2019) for the outstanding appeal against the Divisional Court’s decision in R (on the application of Hoareau and Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2019] EWHC 221 (Admin). He also provided advice regarding Chagos Islanders v UK (2013) 56 EHRR SE15; R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs No. 2 (Court of Appeal [2008] QB 365; and House of Lords [2009] AC 454).

Dr Allen has a specialism in the area of Special Educational Needs Law. He has acted as a volunteer Tribunal Representative for IPSEA in cases instituted at the SENDIST tribunal. He secured an Award from the Society of Legal Scholars (Small Projects and Events Fund) in support of Special Educational Needs Law Initiative. This project examined various ways in which Law Schools can foster legal education in the area of Special Educational Needs (SEN) Law. The Award covered the costs of a SEN Law workshop held on 30 November 2018. This event brought together legal practitioners, charitable organisations, and academics with expertise in SEN Law to consider key issues. Further, in association with QMUL’s Legal Advice Centre, we started a pilot scheme – involving a small groups of student volunteers – to test the viability of providing (supervised) legal advice to the parents/guardians of children/young persons with SEN as part of a prospective SEN Law module.

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