Professor dr. E. Lijnzaad is endowed professor Practice of International Law (part time). She is also Judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg. 

She was is Legal Adviser of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and head of the international law department (2006-2017). In that capacity she has acted as the Agent for the Netherlands in cases before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the International Criminal Court. She has been co-chair of the UNGA’s Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group to study issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity beyond areas of national jurisdiction. 

She is a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and of the San Remo Institute of International Humanitarian Law. As Legal Adviser she participates in the EU’s working group on International Law (COJUR), in the Comité Ad Hoc du Droit International (CADHI) of the Council of Europe, as well as the 6th Committee of the UN General Assembly.

Her research interests include: general international law, international humanitarian law, law of the sea, sources of international law (customary law, law of treaties), resources law (oil and gas, deep seabed mining), boundary limitation, as well as feminism and international law.

She studied law and history, receiving master’s degrees in international law (1985) and Dutch law (1987) from the University of Amsterdam, and a Ph.D. in international law from Maastricht University in 1994.