Since graduating from Queen’s Law, Melissa McKay, Law’14, and Samantha Wynne, Law’13, have experienced first-hand the array of opportunities available to students in international law.
Having both started successful careers in human rights and humanitarian affairs, they have crafted impressive CVs working with judges of foreign supreme courts and international tribunals, United Nations bodies, and organizations that liaise with the UN. Currently, McKay serves as a supervising lawyer with the UBC Allard School of Law’s International Justice and Human Rights Clinic, and Wynne works in Windhoek, Namibia, as a human rights lawyer with the Legal Assistance Centre.
McKay and Wynne will both serve as panelists at the upcoming “International Law at a Crossroads” Conference at Herstmonceux Castle, home of the Queen’s Bader International Study Centre (BISC) in East Sussex, U.K., on May 30 and 31.
Queen’s Law Reports recently caught up with the alumnae to talk about their work, how their law school experience prepared them for their current roles, and what drew them to the BISC conference.
What do you find most rewarding about your work?
McKay: Each of my roles has been rewarding and fascinating. Currently, as a clinic supervisor, I get to work with students interested in pursuing international law careers. They truly want to engage with the issues and make a difference in the world. My goal is to see them continuously improve and have a positive impact on their learning. While pursuing my LLM at New York University School of Law, I was a member of the Global Justice Clinic, and was given the opportunity to travel to Mauritania to represent a client who was victim of the CIA’s post-9/11 rendition, detention and interrogation program. It was an incredible learning experience, and I want my students feel like they’re getting as much out of their clinic experiences as I got out of mine. Giving students an opportunity to engage with these issues at the outset of their career is so important in allowing them to develop into the strongest advocates they can be.
I’ve also enjoyed learning more about the interplay of high-level strategies and fieldwork. While working with the Global Legal Program (Asia) at the Center for Reproductive Rights, I engaged broadly in global politics to strategically develop advocacy policies. It’s also been rewarding to carry that strategy out on the ground, by advising on Canadian-funded maternal health projects in Rwanda and the Philippines. These opportunities helped me understand the legal issues more holistically, and address injustice more effectively by understanding their global and local impacts.
Condemning atrocities is important to me, as I have family members who were victims of crimes against humanity during the Nazi regime. For me, international criminal law provides a means by which victims can get some form of closure and justice. One of my proudest moments was serving with the Office of the International Co-Prosecutor last November in Phnom Penh for the trial judgment in Case 002/02 at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal. So many people in Cambodia were invested in this judgment’s outcome, as the crimes committed during the Democratic Kampuchea impacted everyone in the country in a massive way. Individuals from across the country lined up outside the court to have the opportunity to hear the judges’ verdict in person. I was honoured to take part in something much larger than myself, so significant to many victims and their families decades after the crimes took place. I still get choked up when thinking about that day.
My career gives me the opportunity to travel and meet others who share my passion for international criminal law and human rights. Since being called to the bar, I’ve lived and worked in The Hague, Kathmandu, Phnom Penh, rural areas of Rwanda and the Philippines, and New York. Coming from a small town in northwestern Ontario, I never could have dreamed that this would be my life or that I’d have the chance to learn from so many people and perspectives. My world and my views on how we interact with one another have been transformed as a result of leaving my comfort zone. I’ve made lifelong friends through my career thus far, including Samantha, and I cannot fully express how valuable they have been to me.
Wynne: I am incredibly fortunate to have had such a diverse career, and be able to pursue my interest in atrocity prevention and response, with the aim of protecting at-risk populations. Like Melissa, I have found that an amazing part of this career is the opportunity to travel and meet individuals from all over the world. Since completing my articles with Gowling WLG in Toronto, my career has taken me to the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and to the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Along the way, I learned the importance of challenging misconceptions, the consequence of half-truths that dominate conflict and fuel cycles of violence, and the urgent need to rehumanize the “other.” I have also made lifelong friends and mentors who share my commitment to making a difference, and I have learned from so many people who hold a multitude of perspectives. My views are constantly evolving.
I greatly enjoyed working for six months as a Foreign Law Clerk at the Supreme Court of Israel, advising its Chief Justice on international law and providing comparative law perspectives on constitutional, criminal and refugee matters. This was a unique opportunity to contribute to a foreign high court’s decision-making, uphold the rule of law and strengthen human rights. While living in the Middle East, I also got to travel to the West Bank, meet with Palestinians, and visit sites of historical importance to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
During my LLM studies at the New York University School of Law, I explored my professional passions in depth and extensively researched the challenges posed by asymmetric armed conflicts, the viability of human rights fact-finding to prevent conflicts, and the reconciliatory potential of transitional justice during ongoing conflicts. I had the opportunity to debate and test these ideas with my human rights law professors, who were leading experts in their fields, including Pablo de Greiff, then UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence; and Philip Alston, Former UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions. As a junior research scholar, I also got to advise policy experts on the legal status of the Responsibility to Protect doctrine.
While working at the Jacob Blaustein Institute, I collaborated with civil society, academics and UN officials to strengthen the international community’s response to serious human rights crises around the world. I helped convene a multi-day conference with the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights to assess necessary changes to implement the Secretary-General’s early warning and early action agenda. At the International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect (ICRtoP), I also got to delve into atrocity prevention focused on the MENA region, and publish weekly blogs on protecting civilians from mass atrocity crimes.
After spending nearly three years in New York, I wanted to gain further overseas experience. I was absolutely thrilled to have been selected to participate in the Canadian Bar Association’s Young Lawyers International Program last summer. As part of this program, I currently work at Namibia’s Legal Assistance Centre with the Gender Research and Advocacy team. Notably, I have conducted extensive research and analysis on gender-based violence, human trafficking, and hate crimes, in order to assist lawmakers in drafting stronger legislation to protect women and children in Namibia. Through this experience, I became acutely aware that progressive laws and policies are not enough to prevent the persistence of widespread human rights abuses. My most meaningful work has centered on leading capacity-building trainings to ensure better implementation and enforcement of the laws. It has been immensely rewarding to work with civil society organizations, government officials and UN agencies to respond to human rights issues on the ground.
How has your Queen’s Law experience prepared you for your career?
McKay: I work in the intersection of feminist legal theory and international criminal law to better address impunity for sexual violence in conflict zones and transitioning societies. I examine underlying societal factors including the patriarchy, which contribute to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Several opportunities I pursued at Queen’s motivated me to follow this field of work.
While I knew immediately that I wanted to work on sexual violence issues upon arrival at Queen’s Law, criminal law seemed too rigid at first. In second year, I did an individual supervised project with Professor Kathleen Lahey on the human rights of women athletes in Canada. Prior to this project I was not very familiar with feminist legal theory. The process of challenging legal constructs through a feminist lens was eye-opening for me, however, and it made me reconsider my prior thoughts on criminal law. In third year, I went on exchange to the University of Cape Town, where I took a course on the protection of women’s human rights with Rashida Manjoo, the former Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women. I also studied international law on the use of force with Cathleen Powell, another incredible South African professor. Studying these issues abroad exposed me to diversity of thought and it was cool to learn from high-level women experts on each of these issues.
Being an international criminal law nerd, I found it incredible to have had the chance to learn from Professor Darryl Robinson. His ICL class was by far my favourite at Queen’s. It was amazing to not only have learned the basic principles, but also to have thoughtfully, critically and candidly reflected on these matters with such an expert. International criminal law is a small field, so it has been easy to touch base with one another and share our observations on current developments. I am immensely appreciative to have had a Queen’s Law professor who remains excited about my career path.
Wynne: I was initially set on pursuing a corporate law career on Bay Street. I had landed a summer position, and later articled, at Gowling WLG. Yet five years later, my career is focused on international human rights and humanitarian law, and I have worked in Namibia since last September to combat gender-based violence and bolster gender equality on the ground. My experiences at Queen’s largely influenced my transition toward international law, as they let me learn from and work alongside Professors Darryl Robinson and Joshua Karton – individuals who told me working in this field was possible and believed I could succeed.
In my first year, I applied to several legal summer jobs. I was very fortunate to have been selected for the Borden Ladner Gervais (BLG) Fellowship. I had the opportunity to work one-on-one with Professor Karton to explore the interplay between international law and the domestic legal system. I read over 1,000 court judgments that analyzed treaties, ranging from international criminal law to the civil aspects of international child abduction. Ultimately, we co-published a study entitled “Canadian Courts and Uniform Interpretation: An Empirical Reality Check,” in which we analyzed how Canadian courts interpret and apply treaties incorporated into domestic law. This was my first foray into international law.
In my second year, my courses were mostly split between corporate law and international law. On one hand, I had secured a position as a caseworker in the Queen’s Business Law Clinic (QBLC), and on the other, I was selected to compete in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot. The Jessup competition that year centred on issues involving state representation post coup-d’état and the international responsibility for a state’s use of force while taking part in a regional operation to bring about democracy. Given the situations unfolding in Libya and Syria at the time, these topics were especially relevant. This also brought my attention to the Responsibility to Protect doctrine and sparked my interest in atrocity prevention and response. Now this is the focus of both my career and my upcoming discussion at the BISC conference. I was lucky to have had such a smart, dedicated coach in Professor Robinson and learned from him while taking international criminal law.
In the spring semester of my final year at Queen’s, I went on exchange to Tel Aviv University. There, I focused exclusively on international law, taking courses in transitional justice, human rights and United Nations law. During this time, I developed a regional focus on the Middle East, specifically the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Having already signed on to article at Gowling WLG in their business law group, I committed to seeing it through. Afterwards however, I fully committed to pursuing an international law career and followed through on the advice of Professors Robinson and Karton to obtain an LLM. I graduated from NYU in 2016, and I have been working in this field ever since! Had it not been for my experiences at Queen’s Law and the opportunity to work closely with professors who believed in me, I may not have believed careers in this field were possible.
What drew you to participate in the “International Law at a Crossroads” Conference and what are you most looking forward to there?
McKay: I’m always excited to share my ideas on international criminal law’s direction and on upcoming issues. Coming from a feminist perspective, I believe this field must further explore the factors that facilitate cycles of victimization, including social factors that pre-date conflicts and carry over into societies transitioning out of those conflicts. By failing to address these factors, we allow violence to continue in perpetuity – something we’ve seen to varying degrees in states that have emerged from conflict. I’m excited to have the opportunity to propose solutions, and engage with other experts in this field.
I’m also excited to catch up with old friends – including Samantha! I absolutely loved the social aspects of life at Queen’s Law, so this is a great opportunity to meet up again with former profs and fellow grads, and to reminisce on Kingston memories.
Wynne: I sincerely believe in giving back to Queen’s Law for inspiring me on this journey and I’m always excited to engage with students on international law, provide advice on how to enter this field, and discuss the most essential skills they can develop. For example, it’s great to seek out internships and mentors during law school, develop language skills, network, as well as develop a professional presence on social media.
I also believe this conference’s theme is incredibly timely. As powerful UN Member States increasingly question the value of multilateral institutions and their international human rights commitments, I share the view that international law really is at crossroads. More than ever, we must understand what causes these global challenges and devise adequate responses to them. I look forward to learning from the other speakers – many of whom are at the forefront of their fields.
As to what I hope to get out the conference – I am beyond excited to reconnect with old friends, professors and colleagues who were instrumental to shaping my career path and who supported me along the way. This includes Melissa, my BLG fellowship supervisor Professor Karton, and my informal Gowling WLG mentor Vanessa Grant (Law’95). Like Melissa, I also had a very active social life while at Queen’s and will gladly travel over 5,000 km for a smoker on Thursday night!
For more information and to register for the “International Law at a Crossroads” conference, please visit the Queen’s Law website.
By Justin Murphy