International litigation

 

I started my practising career working for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and prior to that, for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia as part of legal internships in The Hague.  In that capacity I worked in the Legal Department of the ICJ  on legal issues pertaining to Genocide and State Responsibility in relation to the Case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro)  and provided expert advice to the Court on substantive and procedural matters (applicable standards) in relation to Genocide.  My work involved the examination of over 200 witness testimonies systematising the data in electronic version for the Court together with a legal analysis, considering the elements of the crime of Genocide and the elements of State Responsibility under the UN Genocide Convention as well as preparing memoranda on general principles of State Responsibility for Genocide, including a full revision of all the existing jurisprudence at the time on Genocide before international tribunals.    Prior to that, I interned with Chamber Trial I -then Presided over by H.E. Judge Claude Jorda- at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, working on the case of Prosecutor v. Timohir Blaskic, concerning a massacre in Central Bosnia.  In particular, I advised Chambers on the applicable law relating to command responsibility under international law, contributing to the creation of a world precedent on Command Responsibility in international law. 

 

Working with international tribunals in the adjudication of complex cases of large scale, dealing with some of the most compelling issues of international justice of our time (such as the adjudicating of cases of Genocide and crimes against humanity) gave me first-hand experience of the manner in which international tribunals settle disputes, enabling me to put this knowledge into use in my own work as a litigator, later in my career.  

 

I have appeared since, as Counsel in landmark international cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as well as before the UN Human Rights Committee.  To see more on that work please click here.  

 

With regard to inter-State litigation before the International Court of Justice, more recently, I assisted Counsel for Germany, Professor Bruno Simma in the LaGrand Case,  (Federal Republic of Germany v United States of America) in preparing lines of argumentation on the right to consular assistance and its relation to human rights, as treated by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in its Advisory Opinion relevant to the LaGrand case. The ICJ upheld the arguments advanced by Prof Simma, representing Germany, in that regard.  In addition, my writings have been cited by parties pleading before the ICJ such as in the case of Avena and Other Mexican Nationals (Mexico v. United States of America).   I welcome instructions to act before the ICJ in contentious cases as well as in the context of Advisory Opinions.   My original legal training in a civil law system has come as an asset for legal teams facing rules of procedure built both upon the common law  and civil law procedural traditions.    To contact me please click here.