UQ alumna wins internship to work on international law at The Hague

University of Queensland Arts and Law graduate Brooke Marshall has secured a sought-after internship at the Permanent Bureau of The Hague Conference on Private International Law in The Netherlands.

Ms Marshall, a solicitor with Allens in Brisbane, said she was honoured to have been selected for the 2013 Peter Nygh Hague Conference Internship.

“I have a deep fascination with the complexities of private international law – an interest piqued by my undergraduate studies at the TC Beirne School of Law,” she said.

“The Nygh internship presents a unique opportunity to work at the world’s leading organisation for the harmonisation of the rules of private international law.”

The Hague Conference on Private International Law is a global, inter-governmental body seeking internationally agreed approaches to situations common to many countries with different legal systems, for example, child protection, marriage and commercial law.

Its first meeting was held in 1893 on the initiative of Tobias Asser, the 1911 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

“The Hague Conference promotes access to justice in cross-jurisdictional situations and gives life to Tobias Asser’s vision of a global order of richly diverse bodies of civil and commercial laws through the progressive unification of the rules of private international law,” Ms Marshall said.

During the six-month internship, Ms Marshall will work within the Permanent Bureau researching and translating texts and drafting advice and recommendations from Expert Working Groups into international instruments.

The role will draw on French language skills she gained at the UQ School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies and through UQ Abroad university exchanges in Paris and Lyon.

The Peter Nygh Hague Conference Internship is awarded in memory of The Hon Dr Peter Nygh AM, a former judge of the Family Court of Australia and a leading international lawyer.

Following her graduation from UQ with Honours in 2012, Ms Marshall worked as an associate to The Honourable Justice Keane while he was Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia before joining Allens.

Media: Melissa Reynolds, 07 3365 2523, m.reynolds@law.uq.edu.au