J Alexander Brien is the Founder and Leads Maritime Frontiers, a global consultancy providing strategic, legal, and technical advice on ocean affairs to governments, international organizations, NGOs, and private clients.
- Areas of Expertise: International law of the sea, maritime security and enforcement, critical submarine infrastructure, marine energy, shipping, maritime boundary delimitation, continental shelf submissions (UNCLOS), ocean governance, and offshore resource management.
- Prior Roles: Advocate for Australia and New Zealand in the ITLOS Southern Bluefin Tuna Cases and advised on Hot Pursuit of Foreign Vessels engaged in illegal fishing in the Southern and Indian Oceans.
- Served as a Senior Legal Adviser in the Australian Attorney-General’s Department International Law Office until 2006, and was during that time the Australian representative to the Annual Meetings of States Parties to UNCLOS and the UNCITRAL Working Group on Arbitration.
- Was leader of Maritime and Oceans Programs in London, where he assisted small-island states and nations in the Pacific, Caribbean, and Indian Ocean with historic maritime boundary and joint-management treaties (such as the landmark Mauritius-Seychelles joint continental shelf treaty). He has also worked with firms on international tribunal matters and maritime dispute settlement.
- He has spoken at numerous international conferences on ocean governance and natural resources in Bangladesh, France, Kenya, Malta, Oman, South Africa, Tunisia and Turkey and has guest lectured at Maritime and Natural Resource Management Workshops at the National University of Singapore, the University of Sydney and Oxford University.
