Roundtable on Professions & Research In International (Criminal) Law 

Roundtable discussion (rescheduled): 18 March 2022, 11am-12pm

Professions & Research In International (Criminal) Law 

This roundtable brings together scholars from International Law, International Criminal Law, and International Relations to examine the promise and challenges of empirically researching this group of legal professionals, and the political context in which they operate and that they in turn shape. Co-organised by the Centre for Global Security Challenges (POLIS), the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies (School of Law), and the Legal Profession Research Group (LPRG) (School of Law)

Chair: Alexander Beresford, Associate Professor in African Politics (POLIS)

Participants:

· Alex Batesmith, Lecturer in Legal Profession, School of Law, University of Leeds

· Nora Stappert, Lecturer in International Relations and International Law, POLIS, University of Leeds

· Ilaria Zavoli, Lecturer in Law, School of Law, University of Leeds

How can we understand international lawyers, including international criminal lawyers, and their role in world politics? And what are the challenges of such a research agenda? International lawyers are not only the architects of the international legal order and its mechanisms, they are also key in shaping how international legal rules, and the normative commitments that underpin them, are implemented on a day-to-day basis. In a professional field in which change across different roles is frequent, international lawyers may represent and provide legal advice to governments, act as judges, prosecutors, defence counsel or victims’ lawyers or legal officers at international organisations and international(-ised) courts, work at international organisations or non-governmental organisations, or provide legal analyses as academics.

Questions addressed by the panellists include:

· Is there one, or multiple overlapping, international legal profession(s)?

· How does international (criminal) lawyers’ identity, motivations, and professional training shape their approach and contribution to (legalised forms of) world politics?

· How do such lawyers’ identity, motivations and professional training shape the laws and the institutions within which they work?

· How do international (criminal) lawyers perceive their profession and their role as lawyers in International Law?

· Which role do legal academics play within international (criminal) law?

· What could be the ethical challenges of working as an international (criminal) lawyer?

· What are the practical challenges, and ethical implications, of researching international lawyers empirically?