Isabelle Van Damme

Isabelle completed her studies in law at the University of Gent (Cand. Jur and Lic. Jur.) in 2002 and at Georgetown University Law Center (LLM) in 2003. After working a year at Georgetown University Law Center, for Professor John H. Jackson and the Journal of International Economic Law, she wrote her PhD on ‘Treaty Interpretation by the WTO Appellate Body’, under the supervision of Professor James Crawford, at the University of Cambridge (2004-2007). Following her master studies and during her PhD, Isabelle interned at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body Secretariat, worked at the Codification Division of the Office of Legal Affairs of the UN Secretariat, and was a Global Law Fellow at Columbia University.

After completing her doctorate, Isabelle worked as a College Lecturer, Director of Studies and the Turpin-Lipstein Fellow at Clare College, University of Cambridge, where she taught EU law, public international law and WTO law. She next joined the Geneva office of a US law firm, where she worked on WTO disputes, and also served as a référendaire in the Chambers of Advocate General Sharpston at the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Prior to her appointment to the University of Bern and the World Trade Institute, Isabelle was a partner at a Brussels-based law firm, where she practiced international (trade) law and EU law and managed that firm’s pro bono programme. In that role, she acted for several governments in WTO and FTA dispute settlement proceedings, including in disputes relating to national security and sustainability, and parties in CJEU proceedings. She also advised clients on the negotiation of trade and investment agreements, and compliance with export control and sanctions legislation.

Isabelle has been a Visiting Lecturer at the Université Catholique de Louvain and has also taught at the University of Luxembourg, the Graduate Institute, KU Leuven, the World Trade Institute, and the Academy of International Economic Law and Policy.

She continues to teach a seminar on EU trade and policy at the College of Europe in Bruges. She is currently also serving her second term as Executive Vice-President of the Society of International Economic Law. On 23 June 2022, the European Commission added Isabelle to the “List of Candidates for Appointment as Arbitrators and TSD Experts”.

Isabelle is a member of the editorial boards of SEW (Tijdschrift voor Europees en economisch recht), EU Law Live, the Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law and the Revue belge de droit international. Since 2024, she also sits on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of International Economic Law.

Her main publications include Treaty Interpretation by the WTO Appellate Body (OUP), EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (Concurrences, co-authored), Commentary on the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement (CUP, co-authored), and the first and second editions of The Oxford Handbook of International Trade Law (OUP, co-edited).

Isabelle’s current research focuses on the administration and enforcement of EU sanctions legislation and procedural law of WTO and FTA dispute settlement mechanisms.