Jacqueline Espenilla is a Non-Resident WSD-Handa Fellow at Pacific Forum, Center for Strategic and International Studies, a United Nations-Nippon Foundation Fellow, and a Visiting Research Scholar of the International and Comparative Law Program at Columbia Law School.

Her research focuses on the South China Sea disputes and, more broadly, on maritime safety and security in the Asia Pacific. She received her LL.M. from Harvard Law School, and her J.D. and B.A. from the University of the Philippines. Jacqueline is currently on research leave from the Department of Justice of the Philippines, where she is a Senior Attorney.