Irina specialises in international investment and commercial arbitration. She has acted as counsel in arbitration proceedings under the ICC, NAI, ICSID, and PCA rules, as well as in proceedings before Dutch courts.

Before joining De Brauw in 2015, Irina was a Doctoral Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea (NILOS). She has also worked as an Associate Legal Officer at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and as part of the arbitration practice of a major international law firm in Paris.

Irina is the author of numerous articles on international law and dispute settlement, as well as of a book on international law published by Oxford University Press in 2018.

Irina has received various awards, including the Clifford Chance Prize for Best Performance in the MJur Programme and Winter Williams Prize in International Economic Law at Oxford, as well as awards from the Royal Netherlands Society of International Law, the Rhodes Academy of Oceans Law and Policy, and various other organisations.

The European Union recently appointed Irina to the roster of arbitrators - alongside five other individuals - for the settlement of future disputes between the EU and the UK under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). Irina was also appointed to the pool of arbitrators and trade and sustainable development experts under the EU's trade agreements with third countries.