Clarissa Rodio

• Crime
• Extradition
• Regulatory

Clarissa joined Chambers in May 2023. Her domestic practice consists of criminal law, extradition and regulatory law. She regularly defends and prosecutes in the Crown Courts, and she acts for Requested Persons in extradition matters. In addition to being a barrister, Clarissa is an accredited mediator.

Prior to joining Chambers, Clarissa had a mixed domestic and international practice. She developed experience in Public/Private International Law, International Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law, Business and Human Rights, including sanctions, and has dealt with matters before the European Court of Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the International Criminal Court, and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. She also represented a Libyan corporation subject to financial sanctions and asset freezes in the UK and was actively involved in efforts to bring individuals and corporations, allegedly implicated in the Yemeni conflict, to justice.

Clarissa was a member of the Defence team for Nasim Haradinaj, before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague, holding the position of Legal Associate. She was also part of the legal team representing victims of Yemen’s civil war, calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by the Saudi-led coalition in the Republic of Yemen. Clarissa delivered a presentation in this regard at the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and was subsequently appointed to manage and coordinate a project related to the conflict in Yemen, specifically focusing on the field of mercenaries and private military contractors (PMCs), the use of cluster munitions and the role of U.S. corporations in manufacturing these weapons.

Clarissa’s research field is principally focused on mercenaries and PMCs. She was invited as a speaker at the Law Conference 2023 held at Palacký University in Olomouc, Czech Republic, on “International Law and the Regulation of Resort to Force: Exhaustion, Destruction, Rebirth?”. She gave a presentation on “Justice and Accountability in the Era of Modern Mercenarism: the Discernible Lacunae in International Law”.

Clarissa was also invited to join the Africa Program Chair of the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), Ambassador Charles Ray, where she discussed Wagner’s future in Africa.