Sands has acted as counsel in more than two dozen cases at the International Court of Justice, including the "Nuclear Weapons" Advisory Opinion (counsel for the Solomon Islands); the "Georgia v. Russia" dispute (counsel for Georgia); "Whaling in the Antarctic" (counsel for Australia); "Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965"; and "Application of the Genocide Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" (counsel for The Gambia). He has also been instructed in inter-State arbitrations, including the "Chagos Marine Protected Area" Arbitration (counsel for Mauritius) and the dispute between the Philippines and China over maritime jurisdiction in the South China Sea (counsel for the Philippines).