This issue, Chloe, a current student at St Margaret’s, sits down with her Aunt Kate Gibson (’96).

Kate is an international criminal lawyer who has been practising before the international criminal courts and tribunals since 2005. Kate worked on a trial before the United Nations Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda in Tanzania. She spent five years living in Tanzania and representing Rwandan accused, following which she appeared as counsel in international criminal trials involving conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2018, she was appointed as a Legal Consultant to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission for Myanmar, working to document crimes committed against the Rohingya since 2016.

In this article, Chloe and Kate discuss what Kate has been up to since she received the St Margaret's Distinguished Past Student Award in 2020 and reflect on their shared connection to St Margaret’s.  

Chloe -  In 2020, you were awarded the Distinguished Past Student Award for your work as an international defence lawyer. Since then, you’ve continued to amaze us with your accomplishments. Can you outline what’s been going on since 2020?

Kate - Since 2020, I’m still living in Geneva with my family but travelling regularly to The Hague where I’m representing an accused before the International Criminal Court. In the past three years, most of my time was working to free a man who was the subject of the film Hotel Rwanda who was kidnapped by the Rwandan regime. I spent two and a half years trying secure his release from prison,and he was released in April this year. So that’s what’s probably taken up most of my time and been the most exciting.

Chloe - I’m studying French at the moment in Year 9 at St Margaret’s. I know you studied French at St Margaret’s as well. Do you think studying a language helped influence you to want to work internationally?

Kate - No, but I couldn’t be doing the work that I do without having studied French. A lot of my work is in French. A lot of the court proceedings at the International Criminal Court are in English and French. So without having started that at St Margaret’s at a young age, I could not be in this field.

Chloe - You and I will graduate exactly 30 years apart from each other. Over those three decades, many things have changed. I’m sure we’d agree that the sporting facilities have been upgraded since you were playing volleyball. But I also want to ask you if you think that some things have remained the same?

Kate - Every time I come home every year at Christmas, and I go to St Margaret’s, I’m just blown away by the changes in terms of the buildings and facilities. You know, you have a cousin and I have a niece who’s starting in the boarding school so we’ve been able to see how incredible the grounds and the facilities are but that’s only one aspect of St Margaret’s.

What is more central remains unchanged, which is what it means to be a St Margaret’s girl.  The school spirit that everyone feels, we felt 30 years ago in the same way that you’re feeling it now. It’s a very unique and special thing amongst schools in Brisbane, I think. What we all share and what we are all united in is being St Margaret’s girls.