Joanna accepts instructions across all areas of commercial law. Her recent experience includes:

• Acting for the Claimant regarding alleged breaches of an exclusive rights sponsorship agreement (as a pupil, assisting Richard Blakeley KC, on a team led by Mark Howard KC);
• Acting for the Claimant in an LCIA arbitration concerning the interpretation of multiple back-to-back commodity sale and purchase contracts, and in particular whether a sanctions clause raises a defence to payment (as a pupil, assisting Richard Blakeley KC);
• Acting for a Claimant in proceedings alleging bribery, breach of fiduciary duty, conspiracy, and dishonest assistance/knowing receipt (as a pupil, assisting Richard Blakely KC);
• Acting for the Defendant in an LCIA arbitration resisting a with notice application for a worldwide freezing injunction (as a pupil, assisting Richard Blakeley KC);
• Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation v (1) David Neil Gerrard (2) Dechert LLP (Comm): Acting for the Defendants in defence of a claim for professional negligence and malpractice brought by mining conglomerate the Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (as a pupil assisting Edward Harrison);
• Acting for the Defendant in proceedings alleging fraud and professional negligence against the statutory auditor of a high profile financial services firm (as a pupil, assisting Edward Harrison, on a team led by Thomas Plewman KC);
• Acting for the Applicant in a without notice application for an anti-suit injunction to protect an English arbitration clause (as a pupil, assisting Edward Harrison, on a team led by Harry Matovu KC).

Joanna accepts instructions across all areas of public law. Before coming to the bar, Joanna taught public law at LSE. She has particular experience in human rights litigation both in domestic proceedings and at the ECtHR.

Her recent experience includes:

• Acting for various sanctioned persons and companies challenging their designation under the Russia and Syria sanctions regimes (as a pupil, assisting Malcolm Birdling in teams led by Maya Lester KC);
• Acting for various sanctioned persons and companies challenging EU restrictive measures implemented in respect of Belarus and Syria (as a pupil, assisting Malcolm Birdling in teams led by Maya Lester KC);
• Acting for the Lord Chancellor defending a challenge to the lawfulness of the legal aid scheme implemented in respect of immigration detainees held in prison (as a pupil, assisting Malcolm Birdling);
• Acting for the National Union of Farmers in an appeal concerning the proper construction of The Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 (as a pupil, assisting Malcolm Birdling);
• Advising an individual in respect of the prospects of judicial review of a Parole Board release decision (as a pupil, assisting Jennifer MacLeod). 

Joanna also spent a year working in refugee and asylum law, including six months on a designated hot spot processing island in Greece, and six months at the UN Refugee Agency in London.

Prior to coming to the bar, Joanna acted in cases focussed on free expression, privacy, data protection, and digital rights. She had conduct of cases before the European Court of Human Rights, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and various UN Working Groups and Special Mandates.

During pupillage, Joanna gained particular experience in respect of international sanctions and cross-border commercial disputes. Her recent experience includes:

• Advising individuals and companies in respect of UK and European sanctions law and policy (as a pupil, assisting Malcolm Birdling on teams led by Maya Lester KC);
• Acting for the Defendant resisting a with notice application for a worldwide freezing injunction raising questions as to the jurisdiction of an LCIA tribunal to grant such relief (as a pupil, assisting Richard Blakeley KC);
• Advising in respect of an English jurisdiction and choice of law clause in the context of threatened foreign proceedings (as a pupil, assisting Richard Blakeley KC);
• Acting for the Applicant in a without notice application for an anti-suit injunction in the context of threated foreign proceedings (as a pupil, assisting Edward Harrison);
• Acting for the Claimant in an LCIA arbitration concerning the interpretation of multiple back-to-back commodity sale and purchase contracts, in  particular whether a defence to payment based on a sanctions clause is applicable (as a pupil, assisting Richard Blakeley KC).

Education

Master of Law (First Class), University of Cambridge | 2023

Bachelor of Law (First Class) and Bachelor of Arts (History) (First Class), University of Sydney | 2016

Professional Experience

Tutor (Public Law), London School of Economics | 2023

Research assistant in commercial and common law, Law Commission of England and Wales (Digital assets) | 2023

Visiting Scholar (University of Minnesota) assisting the UN Special Rapporteur on counter terrorism and human rights | 2022

Legal Officer, Media Defence | 2019-2021

Legal Adviser, Samos Refugee Law Clinic; and the UN Refugee Agency | 2018

Judicial Assistant to the Hon Justice A Meagher, Court of Appeal (New South Wales, Australia) | 2017

Professional Qualifications

2023: Called to the bar of England & Wales

2017: Qualified as a solicitor in New South Wales, Australia

Scholarships and Prizes

John and Sophie Laws Scholarship (Bar European Group)

WM Tapp Studentship in Law (Gonville & Caius Collage, Cambridge)

University Medal in History (ranking first overall) (University of Sydney)

Outstanding Academic Achievement Scholarship (University of Sydney)

University Blue in Debating (University of Sydney)

Joanna Connolly, ‘The right to erasure: comparative perspectives on an emerging privacy right’, (2020) 46 ALJ 1.