Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC is a senior Irish barrister based in Matrix Chambers in London, specialising in international law, crime and human rights. She advises and appears in matters before domestic and international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice, most recently on behalf of South Africa in its case against Israel for violation of the Genocide Convention.

 

She is called to the Bars of Ireland, North and South, and of England and Wales, and is on the International Criminal Court’s list of Counsel. She is a former Vice Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee, and a former Visiting Fellow at Harvard Law School.

 

Widely recognized as a leader in her field, much of her practice focuses on justice and accountability for victims of State violence and violations of fundamental rights, including victims of the ‘The Troubles’ in the North of Ireland, and on the protection of the rights to free speech and protest. She was ‘commended’ Barrister of the Year in the 2022 Lawyer Awards for her defense of the ‘Colston Four’, acquitted of toppling a statue of a slave trader during the course of a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol in England. She was nominated for Public International Law King’s Counsel (KC) of the Year in the 2024/5 Legal 500 Awards, having previously been named Public International Law Junior Lawyer of the Year in 2022/3.