Dr Reece Lewis

PhD (Bristol), LLM (Bristol), LLB (Cardiff)

Publication

• Date
• Type

Research

My primary research field is Public International Law. My current work engages the international law of the sea and international legal theory. The list below is a comprehensive account of my published work as of November 2023:

Books

•  Islands, Law and Context: The Treatment of Islands in International Law (2023 Edward Elgar) (with MD Evans) https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802207637.
  • Ch 1: The 'regime of islands' in international law https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802207637.00004.
  • Ch 2: Contrasting islands with other maritime features https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802207637.00005.
  • Ch 3: Definitional elements of an island https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802207637.00006.
  • Ch 4: Islands and the delimitation of maritime zones https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802207637.00007.
  • Ch 5: The contextual approach to islands https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802207637.00008.
  • Ch 6: Conclusion https://doi.org/10.4337/9781802207637.00009.
    
    
• Legal Fictions in International Law (2021 Edward Elgar) https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.
  • Ch 1: Introduction: examining international legal fictions https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00006.
  • Ch 2: Legal fictions https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00007.  
  • Ch 3: International legal fictions https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00008.  
  • Ch 4: The evaluation of international legal fictions https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00009.  
  • Ch 5: Effective elements of international legal fictions https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00010.  
  • Ch 6: Detrimental elements of international legal fictions https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00011.  
  • Ch 7: Implications and reflections https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00012.  
  • Ch 8: Conclusion https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800379145.00013.  

Chapters

• 'Law of the Sea' in M.D. Evans, International Law (6th edition, OUP 2024) (with M.D. Evans)
• ‘The Regime of Islands’ in Øystein Jensen (ed.), The Development of the Law of the Sea Convention: The Role of International Courts and Tribunals (Edward Elgar 2020) 14-47. (with M.D. Evans) https://doi.org/10.4337/9781839104268.00009.   

Journal Articles

• ‘Islands and International Law by Donald R Rothwell (Book Review)' (2023) 72(2) International & Comparative Law Quarterly 565-566.
  
  
• ‘The Artificial Construction and Modification of Maritime Features: piling Pelion on Ossa’ (2021) 52(3) Ocean Development and International Law (published by Routledge) 239-259. https://doi.org/10.1080/00908320.2021.1917099.
  
  
• International legal fictions: lessons from the South China Sea Award’ (2021) 11(2) Asian Journal of International Law (published by Cambridge University Press) 261-280. https://doi.org/10.1017/S204425132100014X.
  
  
• ‘How can consultations be fair during the Covid-19 pandemic?’ (2021) 26(2) Judicial Review (published by Routledge) 108-113. https://doi.org/10.1080/10854681.2021.1964865.
  
  
• ‘The Doctrine of Constructive Presence and the Arctic Sunrise Award: The Emergence of the “Scheme Theory”’ (2020) 51(1) Ocean Development and International Law (published by Routledge) 19-34. https://doi.org/10.1080/00908320.2019.1617927.

Other published work

• Maritime humanitarian corridors in Ukraine (Part 1). (16 June 2022) [Online]. Human Rights at Sea. Available at: https://www.humanrightsatsea.org/news/maritime-humanitarian-corridors-ukraine-part-1.
  
  
• Maritime humanitarian corridors in Ukraine (Part 2). (23 June 2022) [Online]. Human Rights at Sea. Available at: https://www.humanrightsatsea.org/news/maritime-humanitarian-corridors-ukraine-part-2/
  
  
• ‘UK House of Lords UNCLOS Inquiry: A Significant Intervention’ (Opinio Juris.org) (17 March 2022) available at: https://opiniojuris.org/2022/03/17/uk-house-of-lords-unclos-inquiry-a-significant-intervention/.
  
  
• “Can naturally formed features ever be artificial?” (2019) Advisory Board on the Law of the Sea [ABLOS], Monaco, 10th Conference: “Opportunities and Challenges in the Governance of Planet Ocean”. Available at: http://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/130064.
  
  
• “The Status of Maritime Features: A Legal Fiction?” (2017) Advisory Board on the Law of the Sea [ABLOS], Monaco, 9th Conference: “Pushing the limits of UNCLOS”. Available at: http://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/130063.  

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Public International Law (Module Leader)
• International Law and Transnational Challenges (Module Leader)
• Equity and Trusts
• Undergraduate Dissertation

Postgraduate

• Law of the Sea 
• Dissertation Supervision
• PGR Supervision

I have previously taught Jurisprudence to undergraduates and the Law of the Use of Force to postgraduate taught students. 

I am accredited as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Biography

Employment

• Cardiff University: Lecturer in Law, since 2019.
• University of Bristol: Graduate Teaching Assistant, 2016-2019.

External Appointments 

• The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple: Academic Fellow, since 2021
• UK House of Lords International Relations and Defence Select Committee: Specialist Adviser, 2021-2022.

Research and Editorial Assistance

• Malcolm D Evans and Sofia Galani (eds), Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea: Help or Hindrance? (Edward Elgar Publishing 2019)
• Patrick Capps and Henrik Palmer Olsen (eds), Legal Authority beyond the State (CUP 2018)
• Assistant Editor, Maritime Safety and Security Law Journal (2018).
• Eirik Bjorge and Cameron Miles (eds), Landmark Cases in Public International Law (Hart Publishing 2017)

Education

• PhD, University of Bristol (2019): Legal Fictions in International Law: Lessons from the Law of the Sea, supervised by Professor Sir Malcolm D. Evans KCMG OBE and Professor Eirik Bjorge. My thesis was examined by Professor Malgosia Fitzmaurice (Queen Mary University London) and my internal examiner was Professor Patrick Capps.
• LLM International Law, University of Bristol (2016): Distinction
• LLB Law, Cardiff University (2015), First Class.

Honours and awards

Teaching Awards

• Personal Tutor of the Year Nominee - Enhancing Student Life Awards (2023)
• Most Engaging Staff Member of the Year Nominee - Enhancing Student Life Awards (2023)
• Most Innovative Staff Member of the Year Nominee - Enhancing Student Life Awards (2022)

Education Honours

• Prize Nominee for Outstanding Excellence in a Doctoral Dissertation (2019)
• Graduate Teaching Assistant Scholarship to undertake my Doctoral Research (2016-19)
• Best Performance Overall in the LLM, Best Performance in International Law LLM and Postgraduate LLM Dissertation (2016)
• Graduated Top of Class in the LLB (2015)

Professional memberships

• Academic Fellow of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple
• International Law Association UK Branch (ILA)
• Society of Legal Scholars

Academic positions

• 2019 - present: Lecturer in Law, Cardiff University
• 2016 - 2019: Graduate Teaching Assistant, University of Bristol

Speaking engagements

Recent Speaking Engagements

• "Islands and the Law of the Sea" - University of Colombo, Faculty of Law, Sri Lanka (26 April 2023)
• "The UK House of Lords UNCLOS Inquiry" - Maharashta National Law University Mumbai, India (10 December 2022)
• "The Constitutionality of the 'Constitution of the Oceans': An examination of the consequences of the claim that the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea is a constitution" - Australia National University, New Horizons: The Future of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (9-10 December 2022)

Committees and reviewing

• Serve as a peer-reveiwer for a number of academic journals and publishers.
• Editorial Assistant for the following: Malcolm D. Evans and Sofia Galani (eds), Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea: Help or Hindrance? (Edward Elgar Publishing 2019); Assistant Editor, Maritime Safety and Security Law Journal (2018); Eirik Bjorge and Cameron Miles (eds), Landmark Cases in Public International Law (Hart Publishing 2017)

Supervisions

I welcome research proposals in areas relating to my research interests including: the international law of the sea; international legal theory and general public international law.

Current supervision

Cihan Burak Sancak

Research student

Ayten Selin Dogan

PhD Researcher

Hamoud Alotaibi

Research student