Bristol Law graduate publishes article on piracy in Berkeley Journal of International Law

27 June 2011

Bristol Law graduate, Lucas Bento, (LLM 2008-09) has just had an article 'Toward an International Law of Piracy Sui Generis: How the Dual Nature of Maritime Piracy Law Enables Piracy to Flourish' published in the Berkeley Journal of International Law.

...piracy has rocked the boat in which the international legal order is contained – it is now time for the latter to tame the "salt-water thieves" and re-establish order at sea.

Lucas Bento

Bristol Law graduate, Lucas Bento, (LLM 2008-09) has just had an article ' Toward an International Law of Piracy Sui Generis: How the Dual Nature of Maritime Piracy Law Enables Piracy to Flourish' published in the Berkeley Journal of International Law.

The article explores the divergence between international and national legal responses to maritime piracy, and it addresses the benefits of a unified international legal framework. It claims that current domestic, regional, and international legal frameworks fail to adequately combat the nature and scale of maritime piracy, which increasingly impacts the shipping, global manufacturing and tourism industries, and which governments now consider to be a serious problem. As of yet, no unified legal approach exists to address the problem of modern piracy. The crux of the argument advanced in the article is that an inadvertent–yet dangerous–bifurcation of legal developments has unfolded within the field of maritime piracy, consequently creating a body of law that lacks harmony.

Lucas is a Senior Consultant at EcoEnergy International and a member of the New York Bar. He is currently working on two further articles, one on Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) and Brazil, and the other on Negotiation Strategy and Maritime Piracy.