Elizabeth Susan Wilmshurst (born 28 August 1948), Distinguished Fellow of the International Law Programme at

Chatham House Chatham House, also known as the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute headquartered in London. Its stated mission is to provide commentary on world events and offer solutions to global challenges. It is ...

(the

Royal Institute of International Affairs Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

), and Professor of International Law at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, is best known for her role as Deputy Legal Adviser at the

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreig ...

of the United Kingdom on the eve of the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including ...

. She resigned from the Foreign Office on 20 March 2003, three days after Lord Goldsmith's final advice to the British government reversed her legal opinion (in Lord Goldsmith's first secret memo 10 days earlier) that the invasion was illegal without a second

United Nations Security Council Resolution A United Nations Security Council resolution is a United Nations resolution adopted by the fifteen members of the Security Council (UNSC); the United Nations (UN) body charged with "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international pea ...

to SCR 678. Although her resignation was public at the time, the detailed reasons and resignation letter were not, and caused a stir when they were released two years later. On 26 January 2010, Wilmshurst gave evidence to the

Iraq Inquiry The Iraq Inquiry (also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot)Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwe ...

Jack Straw John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British politician who served in the Cabinet from 1997 to 2010 under the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He held two of the traditional Great Offices of State, as Home Secretary ...

on the same day as her former boss, Sir Michael Wood.

Early life and career

Wilmshurst was educated at

Clarendon School for Girls Clarendon School for Girls was a girls' independent boarding school, which began in 1898 in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It moved three times: first to Kinmel Hall near Abergele in Denbighshire in 1948 and then to Haynes Park in Bedfords ...

, an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

, and studied law at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

( LLB and AKC, 1969). Wilmshurst was admitted as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

in 1972. From 1974 until her resignation in 2003, she was a legal advisor with

HM Diplomatic Service His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which ...

. She was the leading British negotiator of the

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome, Italy on 17 July 1998Michael P. Scharf (August 1998)''Results of the R ...

, both within the framework of the UN Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of an ICC (1996–1998) and the Rome Diplomatic Conference (June–July 1998). Her writings and publications in the complex area of International Criminal Law include the widely used ''An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure'', co-edited with Robert Cryer, Hakan Friman and Darryl Robinson.

In popular culture

Juliet Stevenson played Wilmshurst in "A Simple Private Matter", an episode of the BBC series ''

10 Days to War ''10 Days to War'' is a series of eight short television dramas commissioned by Newsnight and broadcast on BBC Two between 10 March 2008 and 19 March 2008 to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. It starred Kenneth Branagh, Toby ...

''. She is also played by Tamsin Greig in the film '' Official Secrets'' about

Katharine Gun Katharine Teresa Gun (''née'' Harwood) (born 1974) is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to ''The Observer'', concerning a request by ...

's leaking of the GCHQ memo.

Publications

*Daragh Murray (editor), Wilmshurst et al. (consultant editors),
Practitioners' Guide to Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict
'. (2016, Oxford University Press).

References

External links

* http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1158801,00.html
Profile
at

SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by prog ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilmshurst, Elizabeth 1948 births Alumni of King's College London Associates of King's College British civil servants Chatham House people Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Living people People educated at Clarendon School for Girls

Early life and career

In popular culture

Publications

Further reading

See also

References

External links