Webinar: Examining Court Cases and Procedures at the International Criminal Tribunals

These quarterly topical webinar programs will engage experts working in and around the International Courts and Tribunals about jurisdictional boundaries surrounding the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).

The programs aimed at young legal professionals will highlight selected cases, legal community initiatives, and employment opportunities at these international bodies ensuring that program participants develop a useful set of skills that will make them competitive in the hiring process, and, once hired, that they have the right “toolbelt” to ensure success in their international court roles.

About the Presenters

Lord Iain Bonomy, Judge, United Kingdom, International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, UNITED NATIONS

Born and educated in Scotland, Lord Bonomy was successively apprentice solicitor, solicitor, advocate, Queen’s Counsel, first instance Judge of the Supreme Courts of Scotland, Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (2004-2009), Judge of the Court of Appeal in Scotland. As Queen’s Counsel he held the post of senior prosecuting counsel in Scotland and prosecuted many serious criminal cases. As a Judge in Scotland and The Hague he presided over trials in many serious, and some prominent, criminal cases. In Scotland he also sat in civil cases. As a member of the Court of Appeal he sat in criminal and civil appeals. He retired from his full-time judicial post in 2012. He continues to sit occasionally in serious criminals trials. In Scotland in 2001-2002 and at the ICTY he chaired Working Groups which produced recommendations for improvements in the practice and procedure for serious and international criminal proceedings which were largely implemented. Between 1998 and 2004 and then again between 2010 and 2017 he served as a Surveillance Commissioner for the United Kingdom, monitoring the deployment by the police and other law enforcement agencies of intrusive and sensitive surveillance practices. Since 2017 he has served as a Judicial Commissioner in the Office of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner. In retirement he has undertaken three assignments for the Scottish Government. From June 2013 to May 2014 he chaired the Infant Cremation Commission, which examined the practices (many unsatisfactory) followed in dealing with the ashes of cremated babies and infants and produced comprehensive recommendations for improvement. Between June 2014 and April 2015 he chaired a Review of aspects of the rules of evidence and procedure in Scottish criminal prosecutions and reported on changes which should be considered if proposals to abolish the existing requirement for corroborated evidence were to be implemented. Afterwards, between January and October of 2015 he carried out a Review of the effectiveness of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002. More recently, from December 2019 to September 2020 he served as part of the Group of Independent Experts appointed to review the International Criminal Court and provide concrete, achievable and actionable recommendations aimed at enhancing the performance, efficiency and effectiveness of the Court and the Rome Statute system.

Hon. Mimi Tsankov, Board of Director, Federal Bar Association (Introduction)

Mimi Tsankov is an Immigration Judge at the New York Federal Plaza Immigration Court.  In the past 15 years presiding at Immigration Courts in New York, Colorado, and California, she has held a variety of national leadership roles including Pro Bono Liaison Judge, contributing editor to the Immigration Judge Benchbook, Attorney Discipline Adjudicator, Chair, Immigration Court – Board of Immigration Appeals Precedent Committee, Mentor Judge, and Juvenile Docket Best Practices Committee Chair.  She is currently active in a variety of roles in the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), including Eastern Regional Vice President, and chairing committees addressing gender equality issues and vulnerable populations cases.  In her personal capacity, she has been elected to the Federal Bar Association (FBA) Board of Directors, and serves as Immediate Past President of the FBA Southern District of New York (SDNY) Chapter.  She is a prior Chair of the FBA national International Law Section. Presently she serves on the Board of the Judicial Division and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.  In Fall 2020, she chaired a national law student three-part webinar program entitled, Racial Equality and the SDGs: A Certificate Training Program for Law Students.  This program was accessible to all law students, nationwide. Judge Tsankov is co-chair of the National Association of Women Judges (NAWJ) Immigration Law Committee, and is Vice President of Publications.  At the American Bar Association (ABA), she is currently serving on a presidential appointment to the Commission on Immigration, and is a member of the Executive Board of the Judicial Division, National Conference of Administrative Law Judiciary.   Judge Tsankov serves as an adjunct faculty member at the Fordham Law School in New York.  She publishes regularly and in the past few months has published articles in the California Western Law Review, the International Bar Association Immigration Law Journal, and the ABA Human Rights Magazine. She speaks regularly before members of the immigration law community at international, national, and regional conferences.

Linda Strite Murnane, “Of Counsel”, Dave Cusack Law Firm, LLC; Retired Chief Circuit Military Judge (European and Eastern Circuits); Colonel, USAF, Ret. (Moderator)

Colonel Linda Strite Murnane (U.S. Air Force, Retired) is “Of Counsel” with the Dave Cusack Law Firm, LLC.  She served as the Chief, Court Management Services Section for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Leidschendam, The Netherlands and as the Chief, Court Management at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in The Hague, The Netherlands. She served two years as the Acting Senior Legal Officer for Trial Chamber III at the Yugoslavia Tribunal.  As the Chief Court Management Services Section at the Lebanon and Yugoslavia Tribunals, she was responsible for the electronic filing and evidence systems, and the support teams comprised of lawyers and other legal support staff proving in court services which operated in English, French and Arabic or Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian. While at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon she was also designated as the Independent Commissioner and, upon assignment, investigated allegations of misconduct involving defence (European spelling convention) counsel and legal representatives of victims who appear before the Tribunal. While at the Yugoslavia Tribunal, she led teams totaling about 40 staff involved in the daily operation of the courtrooms in which the trials of alleged war criminals were being conducted under the mandate of the United Nations Security Council. Colonel Murnane has participated in training programs as an adjunct faculty member for the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies, training judges, lawyers and civilian leaders in Liberia, Rwanda, Zambia, Argentina, Latvia, and Papua New Guinea, on a wide range of legal topics.

Registration

Registration for this webinar is now closed.
Registrants will receive webinar access information via calendar invitation approximately 24 hours prior to the session.

Live Captioning: Should you request live captioning or another accommodation in order to participate in this webinar, please contact meetings@fedbar.org at least 10 days before the event so we may make the necessary arrangements.

Cancellation Policy: No refunds will be made for cancellations received after the close of business on April 23, 2021. No-shows will be billed. Substitutions may be made at any time upon notification. Please contact Ariel White at awhite@fedbar.org with cancellation and/or substitution requests.

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CLE

Please note that CLE credit is not available for this session.

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If you have any questions regarding this program, please contact Caitlin Rider, Conference Manager.