About the Legal Policy & Research Unit (LPRU)

Sara is an employed barrister with over 20 years’ experience in the criminal justice and public policy sector. The majority of her career has been spent working for government, most recently as Director of Strategic Policy at the Crown Prosecution Service.

Sara has led the legal teams on two public inquiries (The Baha Mousa Inquiry and the Detainee Inquiry) and spent several years as a legal and policy advisor to the Senior Presiding Judge and Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.

She has sat in a judicial capacity on the Council of the Inns of Court Disciplinary Tribunal between 2013 and 2020 and was appointed as a reviewer for the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel in 2019.

She currently heads up the Legal Policy and Research Unit at the International Bar Association, working across all Committees and Divisions to lead and support a wide range of IBA projects. This frequently involves collaboration with external stakeholders, including the United Nations, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Union institutions and World Bank. Current projects cover business and human rights, anti-corruption, rule of law, cybersecurity and mental well-being in the legal profession.

Anurag has over sixteen years' experience in the international law and policy sector, having worked across jurisdictions as a practitioner, legal researcher and advisor. He is an Indian qualified lawyer with a BCL from the University of Oxford. Anurag started his legal career as a Judicial Clerk with a Supreme Court of India Judge, then interned at international organisations including the UNCITRAL Secretariat at Vienna and the Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference at The Hague. He has practiced in Indian Law courts and worked briefly in the corporate sector with Skoda Auto in Czech Republic.

Anurag is an influencer and thought leader in the emerging areas of disruptive innovation, internet of things, digital assets and attorney-client privilege and confidentiality issues. He has published and presented several specialist papers on technology law related issues covering cyber security, blockchain technology, digital identity and social media laws. As former Chair of the IBA Social Media Working Group, he led the development and adoption of the international social media principles for the legal profession by the IBA in 2014.

Anurag regularly contributes to, presents at and participates in key fora. He is an expert contributor for the UN-CEFACT, and for UNCITRAL ; he is the IBA representative at the UK Attorney General’s International Pro Bono Committee meetings; a founding member of the Chinese European Legal Association; a fellow of the European Law Institute; member of the ABA and a life member of the Oxford Union Society.

Helen undertook an English degree at Sheffield Hallam University before going on to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

At the IBA she has worked in the Executive Office supporting Mark Ellis and the Executive Assistant, as well as in the Press Office as maternity cover. She joined the LPRU in 2022.

As an undergraduate George studied history at the University of Oxford, before training as a commercial lawyer at Macfarlanes LLP in the City of London. He then returned to Oxford for graduate study, where he undertook a DPhil. In legal history, focusing on the political origins of the rule of law and judicial independence in England.

As BIC Project Lawyer, his role is to assist the BIC in co-ordinating and implementing projects that exclusively support member bar associations and law societies, including capacity assistance projects to developing bars, BIC Policy Committee projects, and projects involving the BIC International Trade & Legal Services committee.

Beatriz holds a Dual Bachelor’s Degree in Law and Political Science from Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Madrid) and a Dual Master’s Degree from IE University in Lawyering and Business Law. During her Master’s Degree, she participated in the IE University Legal Clinic and coordinated a research project on the viability of implementing Social Impact Bonds in Spain.

Before coming to the IBA, she was a legal intern at the Spanish Embassy in Accra (Ghana) and worked as a trainee lawyer at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce and Spanish Court of Arbitration in Madrid. She speaks fluent Spanish and English.

Daniel holds an LLB in Law from the University of Exeter and is currently completing an LLM in International Law and Governance at the University of Durham.

At the University of Exeter, Daniel worked as a Human Rights Research Assistant on Article 8 ECHR immigration appeals within UK domestic courts and tribunals, and as a Student Advisor at the University’s Access to Justice Clinic.

As a Project Coordinator / Paralegal, Daniel’s primary role is to assist with the ‘50:50 by 2030 Gender Project’ and various other LPRU projects.

Prior to joining the LPRU team Lara Douvartzidis was a solicitor and Pro Bono coordinator at Johnson Winter & Slattery, and secondee at Australia’s Public Interest Advocacy Centre. During her time in private practice, she advised and acted for corporate and pro bono clients with expertise in environment and planning law, dispute resolution and class actions, ESG and modern slavery law obligations and transitional issues faced by clients in these emerging areas. She is passionate about strategic climate litigation trends, First Nations justice, just transitions, and ESG related risk management and compliance.

She served as the Associate to the Honourable Chief Justice Kourakis of the Supreme Court of South Australia. She holds an Advanced Masters in European and International Human Rights Law (Ad. LLM) from Leiden University in The Netherlands and a double degree in Law (LLB) and Environmental Policy and Management (BEnvs) from the University of Adelaide, South Australia. She co-chairs the Business and Human Rights Subcommittee of the Australian Lawyers for Human Rights and was listed as an Australasian Rising Star in 2021, a Finalist in the Australian Lawyers Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards for Planning, Native Title and Environment Law in 2021, and a Finalist in the Women in Law Awards for Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year in 2020 and 2021.