Gérardine Goh Escolar

Dr. Gérardine Goh Escolar is First Secretary at the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Her portfolios span cross-border financial and commercial law (including FinTech, DLT and securities), international legal cooperation, and international family law and cross-border child protection. She is concurrently adjunct Associate Professor at the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, where she teaches international space law.

Previously in practice, Dr. Goh Escolar is an experienced counsel, advocate and consultant in international transactions, litigation and arbitration proceedings, having practiced first with a specialist international law boutique, and then with a top-tier global law firm headquartered in Amsterdam. Prior to that, she was Legal Advisor to the President of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, and before that, principal legal officer in the chambers of a Judge at the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Her previous roles include that of legal officer in the service of the government of Germany, in-house counsel at an Earth observation company, and vice-president of external relations at an information technology start-up.

Dr. Goh Escolar has represented clients, and served as tribunal secretary and advisor, in arbitration proceedings under the ICC, ICSID, and UNCITRAL frameworks. She has worked on cases that turned on both private international law and public international law issues, including cases relating to privileges and jurisdictional immunities, maritime and land boundary delimitations, the law of armed conflict, genocide, environmental protection, investment treaty protection, foreign military sales, cross-border corporate transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and energy markets.

Dr. Goh Escolar has previously also taught and conducted research at the International Space University, Leiden University, the European Centre for Space Law, the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, and the Singapore Management University. She was the 2015 Brandon Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, University of Cambridge. Her research has won various awards, including the 2010 Social Science Book Prize of the International Academy of Astronautics, and the 2003 Diederiks-Verschoor medal of the International Institute of Space Law. Her publications include Dispute Settlement in Outer Space (Martinus Nijhoff 2007, author), The Cologne Commentary on Space Law: Volume I (Kluwer 2009, co-author and assistant editor), Contemporary Issues and Future Challenges in Air and Space Law (Air and Space Books 2011, co-author and co-editor), and International Law and Outer Space (Oxford UP forthcoming, author). Dr. Goh Escolar is a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and a member of the International Law Association and the International Institute of Space Law.

Dr Goh Escolar holds a doctorate (Dr. iur.) from Leiden University, and an LL.M. in public international law from University College London. She was placed on the overall Dean’s List for her LL.B. (Hons.), which was awarded by the National University of Singapore. She is a member of the Bar of New York State.

Companies

• Deputy Secretary General Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) (2022)
• Adjunct Professor National University of Singapore (2021)
• First Secretary | Diplomat Lawyer Hague Conference on Private International Law (2018 — 2022)
• Adjunct Associate Professor National University of Singapore (2016 — 2021)
• Founder and CEO Stellar Gauge Consultants (2017 — 2018)
• Senior Associate (Litigation and Arbitration) De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek (2017 — 2018)
• Legal Adviser to the President Iran-United States Claims Tribunal (2014 — 2017)
• Associate Legal Officer International Court of Justice (ICJ) (United Nations) (2010 — 2014)
• Legal Counsel and Project Manager German Aerospace Center (DLR) (2007 — 2009)

Education

• Brandon Fellow, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law University of Cambridge
• Doctor of Laws (Dr. iur.) Leiden University
• Master of Laws (LL.M.) UCL
• Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) (Hons.) National University of Singapore
• Space Studies Program International Space University