our team.
Professor Dr jur Petra Butler - Director
Petra has worked for and with small states for over ten years, in particular in the Pacific. Before taking up the directorship of the Institute she was the co-director at the Centre for Small States at Queen Mary University of London. Her areas of expertise are human rights and international commercial law.
Dr Nicole A. Pierce (BA, JD, MBA, LLM) - Deputy Director (PROJECTS)
Dr Nicole A. Pierce is a Senior Lecturer in International Trade Law and Private International Law at the Faculty of Business and Law (BAL) at De Montfort University. Prior to joining De Montfort she delivered undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) at Queen Mary University of London and Northumbria University.
She has also worked in the private sector as an Attorney-at-Law and the public sector at the Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce (MIIC) in Jamaica. Dr. Pierce is an expert in law reform and implementation having acted extensively in the Caribbean region (CARICOM and OECS) with particular focus on harmonization of commercial laws..
deputy director (Caribbean)
Jivaan is a Senior Associate and Head of the Caribbean Group at leading international firm, Linklaters. His practice is a mix of corporate and commercial advisory as well as contentious work with a particular focus on taxation matters. Prior to joining Linklaters, he spent several years in practice as a tax attorney at a Big4 firm in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad. Outside of legal practice, he is a visiting lecturer on the International Tax Law LLM programme at King’s College London where he delivers lectures and supervises dissertations on international tax law and EU tax law. Jivaan has also served as the course convenor/module leader for various undergraduate and postgraduate law modules at the University of the West Indies (Barbados). His research interests centre on international tax law and policy (with a particular focus on Latin America and the Caribbean) and economic integration in developing regions of the Global South. In this regard, he has presented at various conferences, published on such topics and has previously acted as lead legal consultant to the Government of a Commonwealth Caribbean jurisdiction on its tax reforms.
Jivaan is a passionate advocate of diversity, equity and inclusion within the legal profession. He is the current DE&I officer on the Poverty & Social Development Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA). For his efforts to promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, he was awarded in 2021 the Black Solicitors’ Network Rising Star Award (Private Practice) at the UK Diversity Legal Awards.
Ana Tuiketei - Deputy Director (PACIFIC ISLANDS)
Ana is a Barrister of the High Court of Fiji and the first Pacific counsel on a global roster working for the International Criminal Court (ICC). She is an elected member of the Defence Committee and the membership committee for ICC's Bar Association. In addition to her expertise in criminal matters she is an (international) arbitrator. She is the first Pasifika female lawyer to be on the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) general list and only one of two Pacific Island women accredited as Oceania rugby judicial officers. She was appointed to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Independent Ethics Board in June 2022 for a three year term.
From 2017 to Jan 2019 Ana was a Visiting Foreign Lawyer at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. She has worked as a consultant to the ADB on projects relating to Pacific Island states.
Ana is a sessional lecturer with the School of Law, University of the South Pacific and a part time consultant with the Fiji National University. She is currently the General Secretary for the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She sits on the Fiji National Research Ethics Review Committee and the Fiji Industry Training Advisory Committee (NPTC), and formerly served as the Vice President for the Fiji Women Lawyers Association.
She has been involved in presenting before the Fiji Parliamentary Committees; drafting legislative reviews, strategic policies and industry negotiations for regional institutions such as University of the South Pacific, Fiji National University, Ministry of Health, Fiji Employers Federation; Fiji Hotel Association, Fiji Hairdressers Association, statutory bodies, non-profit organizations; international organizations, private and public sector organizations. Currently she is studying for an LLM at Pepperdine University on a Fulbright scholarship.
Rebecca Matijevich - Assistant Deputy Director (Pacific Islands)
Rebecca is currently a Law and Arts student at Victoria University of Wellington, majoring in Political Science and Education. She has a strong passion for Human Rights, Criminal Law and Indigenous Legal Issues. She is currently a tutor for LAWS212; The Law of Torts and recently completed a summer clerkship in the Criminal Appeal team at the Crown Law Office. Rebecca has been with ISMS since 2021 working as a research assistant investigating how Indigenous Customs and Religion can be harnessed to address Domestic Violence in Samoa. Rebecca was particularly focused on investigating the use of gendered language and customary titles in domestic violence proceedings. In 2024, Rebecca will be moving to the University of Sussex in Brighton, to complete her law studies as a part of the Global Exchange programme.
MAGDALEN GIBSON - COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
Magdalen is currently a Law and Communications student at the University of Canterbury, majoring in Political Communications. Magdalen is new to the ISMS team this year and is excited to get into it. Magdalen will be moving to the University of Helsinki in Finland, to complete her communications studies as part of the Global exchange programme.
our advisors.
professor Ilan Kelman (UCL) - Science
Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction
Institute for Global Health
dr radika kumar - International Trade and Economic Analysis and Negotiations
Trade Specialist
Commonwealth Secretariat
dr sarina Theys (NCL) - security and political power
Affiliation: Newcastle University (NCL) - School of Geography, Politics and Sociology and School of Arts and Culture.
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate and Lead Researcher for the Ontological Security of Pacific Island Countries and Islanders project (OSPICs).
