Blue Ocean Law

What Blue Ocean Law does

Blue Ocean Law, PC is a private professional corporation and Pacific-led international law firm headquartered in Hagåtña, Guam. Founded in 2014 by Indigenous Chamorro human rights lawyer Julian Aguon, the firm provides international legal representation, advisory opinions, and advocacy focused on climate justice, human rights, self-determination, and environmental justice for Pacific Island governments, Indigenous communities, and civil society organizations. Services span strategic litigation before the International Court of Justice, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, and the U.S. Supreme Court, plus UN human rights submissions, policy advocacy, capacity building, and amicus work.

The firm is anchored by a small core leadership team — Aguon (Founder and President), Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh (climate and human rights law), Autumn Bordner (climate, nuclear, deep-sea mining, de-militarization), Johanna Chao Kreilick (Chief Strategy Officer, formerly Union of Concerned Scientists and Open Society Foundations), Theresa 'Isa' Arriola (Director of Operations), and Maureen Penjueli (Strategic Advisor) — supplemented by senior diplomatic advisors including Dame Meg Taylor (former Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum) and a network of external international law counsel.

Revenue is generated on a professional services billing model through client engagements with Pacific Island governments (notably the Republic of Vanuatu for the historic ICJ climate advisory opinion case), intergovernmental bodies (Melanesian Spearhead Group), and nonprofit/Indigenous clients (Ebiil Society, Palauan youth). The go-to-market is reputation-led and relationship-driven across Pacific Island jurisdictions; the firm has no traditional sales channel, marketing function, or disclosed pricing structure, and likely combines retainers, matter-based billing, and pro bono or reduced-fee arrangements for frontline community clients.

Name

Blue Ocean Law

Legal name

Blue Ocean Law, PC

Website

https://blueoceanlaw.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Blue Ocean Law is a Pacific-led international law firm founded in Guam in 2014 by Chamorro lawyer Julian Aguon, providing climate justice, human rights, and self-determination representation to Pacific Island governments, Indigenous communities, and civil society before the ICJ, UN, and regional courts.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

International Human Rights Law / Legal Services

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (54111), All Other Legal Services (541199)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111), International Affairs (9721)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental & Energy Law (BPAHAAAO)

akta.pro secondary industries

Treaties, International Law & Boundary Affairs (BPAIAIAD), Oceans, Coastal & Marine Resource Management (BPADALAI)

Keywords

• International human rights law
• Climate justice advocacy
• Environmental legal services
• Indigenous rights representation
• Pacific island law

Headquarters

HQ city

Hagåtña

HQ country

Guam

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Legal Services and Legal Representation: Blue Ocean Law generates revenue through providing international legal services, legal representation, and advocacy to governments, civil society organizations, and Indigenous communities. As a law firm, it bills for legal counsel and representation in international proceedings, advisory opinions, UN submissions, and advocacy work. The firm represents clients such as the Republic of Vanuatu in ICJ proceedings and Palauan youth in UN complaints.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Blue Ocean Law is a Pacific-led, Indigenous-led international law firm providing legal representation, advisory opinions, and advocacy on climate justice, human rights, self-determination, and environmental justice. The firm represents governments, Indigenous communities, and civil society organizations before international courts and bodies including the International Court of Justice, UN human rights mechanisms, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and US courts. Services include strategic litigation, UN submissions, advisory opinions, policy advocacy, and capacity building for Pacific Island communities.

Product overview

Blue Ocean Law is a single, unified law firm offering legal services rather than a software product platform. The firm provides international legal representation and advisory services focused on climate justice, human rights, self-determination, and environmental justice for Pacific Island communities and Indigenous peoples. Services include representation before international courts (ICJ, Inter-American Court of Human Rights), UN submissions, legal counsel to governments, community advocacy, and policy guidance on ocean governance and environmental protection.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Blue Ocean Law Legal Services Pacific-led international legal services providing representation, advisory opinions, and advocacy on climate justice, human rights, self-determination, and environmental justice for Indigenous peoples, Pacific Island governments, and civil society organizations. Includes representation before the International Court of Justice, UN human rights mechanisms, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and US courts; UN submissions and advisory opinions; strategic litigation; policy advocacy; and capacity building.

Quantifiable outcome

• Successfully secured historic ICJ advisory opinion on climate change, with unanimous ruling affirming states' legal obligations
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• University of Guam's Center for Island SustainabilitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 December 2025Blue Ocean Law partnered with the University of Guam's Center for Island Sustainability to provide mentorship, training, and experiential learning opportunities for Guam-based law students interested in environmental and Indigenous rights law. The collaboration strengthens local legal capacity by connecting students with substantive legal work grounded in Pacific Island priorities and community needs.
• Center for Constitutional RightsmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 November 2024Blue Ocean Law worked with the Center for Constitutional Rights to file a submission to UN Special Rapporteurs on behalf of Palauan youth and the Ebiil Society, detailing human rights violations caused by U.S. military activities in Palau. The Center for Constitutional Rights has a long history of fighting oppressive systems of power.
• Amsterdam Law School and UCLA Promise InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 May 2024Blue Ocean Law teamed up with Amsterdam Law School and the UCLA Promise Institute to present on the significance of ICJ advisory proceedings on state obligations in respect of climate change at 'The Promise of International Law in the Face of Ecological Crises' Conference in Amsterdam. The collaboration involved discussing human rights law, rights of nature, legacies of colonialism, and ecological impacts of war.
• Center for Constitutional Rights and ACLU-Puerto RicomajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 October 2023Blue Ocean Law partnered with the Center for Constitutional Rights and ACLU-Puerto Rico to submit a shadow report to the UN Human Rights Committee detailing how the United States continues to deny self-determination to the peoples of its unincorporated territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, CNMI, U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa).
• External International Law CounselcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 23 October 2021Blue Ocean Law leads a team of prominent international lawyers including Pierre-Marie Dupuy (France), Lavanya Rajamani (India), Jennifer Robinson (Australia), and Jorge Viñuales (Argentina/Switzerland) representing Vanuatu in ICJ proceedings. The firm also worked with Julie Hunter, Kevin Chand, and Melina Antoniadis from various countries.
• Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, William S. Richardson School of LawminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2021Blue Ocean Law hosts interns from top law schools including Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and University of Hawaiʻi William S. Richardson School of Law. These interns assist the climate justice team with research and advocacy work.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Center for Constitutional Rights: Center for Constitutional Rights is a U.S. nonprofit that litigates and advocates on human rights, including via international mechanisms. It is a key partner of Blue Ocean Law (joint UN submissions, shadow reports) and shares the practice of pairing U.S. legal advocacy with international human rights fora.
• ClientEarth: ClientEarth is an environmental law charity that uses litigation and advocacy to drive systemic change in climate, biodiversity, and corporate accountability. Comparable to Blue Ocean Law through its use of strategic litigation and international forums, and overlaps on rights-of-nature and climate accountability work.
• Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL): CIEL is a global nonprofit that uses international law to address climate, biodiversity, and human rights issues. Directly comparable to Blue Ocean Law in employing international and environmental law to serve climate-vulnerable states and communities, including participation in ICJ proceedings.
• Earth Rights International: Earth Rights International combines human rights and environmental law to represent frontline communities in international forums. Closely comparable to Blue Ocean Law in its mission of pairing Indigenous community representation with international legal advocacy on environmental and human rights.

Broad incumbents

• Earthjustice: Earthjustice is the largest nonprofit environmental law organization in the U.S. and pursues precedent-setting environmental and climate litigation. Comparable to Blue Ocean Law through shared focus on strategic environmental litigation and representation of public-interest clients, though it operates at much greater scale and is U.S.-focused.
• Conservation International: Conservation International is a large global NGO that works on ocean protection and climate, including in Pacific Island states. Comparable to Blue Ocean Law through shared focus on Pacific-oriented environmental advocacy, though it operates as a broad policy and programs organization rather than a law firm.

Others

• Grunin Center for Law and Social Entrepreneurship: Grunin Center is an academic center working on impact-oriented lawyering in climate and social justice. Included as an adjacent institution in mission-driven legal practice, comparable to Blue Ocean Law via its focus on lawyers as change agents, though operating in academic rather than practicing settings.
• Sabin Center for Climate Change Law: Sabin Center is an academic center at Columbia Law School that supports climate litigation and publishes analysis on global climate cases. Comparable to Blue Ocean Law as an adjacent institution in the global climate litigation ecosystem, though it is an academic rather than a practicing firm.

Emerging players

• Our Children's Trust: Our Children's Trust is a nonprofit that supports youth-led climate litigation, including the Juliana v. United States case. Blue Ocean Law filed an amicus brief in Juliana, illustrating direct overlap in using rights-based arguments to pursue climate accountability.
• Urgenda Foundation: Urgenda is the Dutch foundation behind the landmark Urgenda v. Netherlands climate case. Comparable to Blue Ocean Law as a pioneer of state-based climate accountability litigation, though its focus is Europe and the Netherlands specifically.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/blueoceanlaw
• Facebookfacebook.com/BlueOceanLaw
• Instagraminstagram.com/blueoceanlaw
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/blue-ocean-law

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Blue Ocean Law