Dr Gérardine Goh Escolar

Dr Gérardine Goh Escolar is Deputy Secretary General of the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH). Concurrently, she has primary responsibility for the International Commercial, Digital and Financial Law (CODIFI) Division, including the 1985 Trusts and 2006 Securities Conventions, and the 2015 Principles on the Choice of Law in International Commercial Contracts. The work of the CODIFI Division also comprises the Experts’ Group on Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), the study on Digital Tokens, as well as the monitoring of developments with respect to the private international law implications of the digital economy, voluntary carbon markets, restructuring and insolvency, and intellectual property.

Prior to her appointment as Deputy Secretary General, Dr Goh Escolar was First Secretary at the Permanent Bureau. At various points in her role as First Secretary, she had primary responsibility over portfolios that spanned the full range of the HCCH’s mandate, from family law and child protection, to transnational litigation and international commercial and financial law.

Dr Goh Escolar was previously in practice, acting as counsel, advocate and consultant in international litigation and arbitration proceedings, first with a specialist international law boutique, and then with a top-tier global law firm headquartered in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Prior to that, she was Legal Advisor to the President of the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, and principal legal officer in the chambers of a Judge at the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. She has also served as legal officer in the service of the government of Germany, in-house counsel at a technology company (now part of a unicorn), and vice-president of external relations at an information technology startup.

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. She has particular expertise on international law and policy as they relate to technology (information, digital, finance, communications and aerospace), sustainability, and social impact.

Dr Goh Escolar is Professor (Adjunct) at the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore. She has extensive academic experience over two decades, having taught and conducted research at the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom), the National University of Singapore (Singapore), the University of Cologne (Germany), and the University of Leiden (the Netherlands). She holds a doctorate (Dr. iur.) from the University of Leiden, and an LL.M. from University College London (United Kingdom). She was placed on the overall Dean’s List for her LL.B. (Hons.), which was awarded by the National University of Singapore. Dr Goh Escolar is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York (United States).