Holborn
London
UK
Informal Tribunals dealing with wars include the tribunal established for the Vietnam War by Bertrand Russell and the tribunal formed by various NGOs for the suffering caused in WWII to Japanese ‘Comfort Women’. They – and other similar tribunals – show how the citizen is not bound by any unwillingness of the great international organisations to subject known atrocities to legal process and how the citizen can, instead, set a reliable record of events by informal means, even when let down by the law and lawyers.
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC has practised as a barrister since 1971. He worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia – the ICTY – between 1998 and 2006 and led the prosecution of Slobodan Milošević, former President of Serbia. Much of his work since has been connected to cases before the permanent International Criminal Court – Sudan, Kenya, Libya – or pro bono for victims groups – Iran, Burma, North Korea – whose cases cannot get to any international court. He works for several related NGO’s and lectures and commentates in the media in various countries on international war crimes issues. He has been a part-time judge since 1984 sitting at the Old Bailey and has sat as judge in other jurisdictions, tribunals and inquiries. Since 2009 he has been Vice-Chair of the Bar Standards Board, the body that regulates barristers.
The first five of his 2012-13 lectures as Gresham Professor of Law will deal with issues arising from the work of international criminal courts and tribunals. The sixth will contrast the practice of law in international criminal courts where there is little or no effective regulation of lawyers and judges with the present working practices of the English Bar, on which he can reflect in light of his long experience generally and his recent experience as a regulator.