B.A. (University of Colorado at Boulder), J.D. (Vermont Law School), LL.M. (McGill University), Ph.D. candidate (Chulalongkorn University)

Adv. Sara Phillips is a Consultant and Doctoral Fellow in Sustainability and Environmental Politics at the Stockholm Environment Institute’s (SEI) Asia office, an Associate Researcher with the Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS) at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, and a Visiting Lecturer at the Center for Global Law and Policy at Santa Clara University School of Law, where she teaches International Sustainable Development and lectures on business, human rights, and climate change as part of the Center’s Business and Environment study abroad program in Singapore. At the SEI, Sara is a member of the Climate Change, Disasters, and Development research team, with a primary work focus on mineral resource development and governance, human rights, environmental law, and climate change. Additionally, her research at the CSDS investigates how the law enables structural inequalities that lead to resource conflicts.

Previously, Sara garnered over a decade of experience in law and policymaking in Canada, Mongolia, Thailand, and the United States. As a practicing attorney, Sara’s work focused on energy, environment, and natural resources, with an emphasis on mining, oil, and gas. Her global career also included acting as an international consultant to NGOs, government bodies, and multinational corporations on issues pertaining to corporate social responsibility, sustainable resource development, and human rights.

In conjunction with her work and research, Sara is a Doctoral Candidate in International Development at Chulalongkorn University, where her doctoral project, entitled “The Implications of Legal Pluralism to Understanding Mining Conflicts: A Socio-Legal Study of Thailand’s Chatree Gold Mine,” examines how actors utilize norms to shape the resource development lifecycle, with an emphasis on stakeholder engagement and inclusive decision-making processes.

Sara is a qualified attorney, licensed to practice in the State of New York.