Category: Ethics

[I]f we have to find our way over difficult seas and under murky skies without a compass or chronometer, we need not on that account allow the ship to drive at random.

A. Balfour, The Foundations of Belief, Being Notes Introductory to the Study of Theology (Longman, Green & Co., New York, 1902), p. 244.

You need to know what you don’t know, to know what you need to know.

Michael G. Karnavas, Training Aphorism

On 13-14 March 2024, I was privileged to have been invited as a panelist to an ethics symposium held at the International Criminal Court (ICC), organized by the Institute for International Legal and Advocacy Training (IILAT).

Founded in 2013 in The Hague, IILAT’s mission over the years has been “to address the growing need for courtroom advocacy training at international courts and tribunals.” Training, which might I add, is practical, relevant, and qualitatively excellent – and badly needed, considering the importance of adversarial skills required in virtually all international(ized) criminal tribunals and courts (ICTs). As for this symposium, I found it exceptionally useful and insightful. Continue reading “THE IILAT ETHICS SYMPOSIUM AT THE ICC: Sharing views on professional responsibilities and working through ethical dilemmas”

You have to know the why in order to know the when,

But if you don’t know the how

Knowing the why and when won’t help you.

Training Moto, Michael G. Karnavas

Reality Check

Article 7(2) of the ICC Code of Professional Conduct for Counsel (Code) presumes that list counsel possess a high level of knowledge of the applicable law and a high level of skills required for the adopted party-driven, adversarial hybrid procedure, and thus must “participate in training initiatives required to maintain such competence.” This presumption is fanciful. Not all list counsel are sufficiently competent – let alone to a high level – simply because they have managed to get themselves on the list. Counsel cannot “maintain a high level of competence” unless they are already competent to a high level. Query whose responsibility is it to ensure that at least those counsel appearing in proceedings before the ICC have a high level of competence. In no small measure I suggest it is the ICC Registrar, through the Counsel Support Section (CSS), which is responsible for setting the standards for the admission of counsel. Continue reading “A CLARION CALL TO THE ICC COUNSEL SUPPORT SECTION: training for counsel and assistants should be practical and skill-developing”

In the nature of law practice, … conflicting responsibilities are encountered. Virtually all difficult ethical problems arise from conflict between a lawyer’s responsibilities to clients, to the legal system and to the lawyer’s own interest in remaining an ethical person while earning a satisfactory living. The Rules of Professional Conduct often prescribe terms for resolving such conflicts. Within the framework of these Rules, however, many difficult issues of professional discretion can arise. Such issues must be resolved through the exercise of sensitive professional and moral judgment guided by the basic principles underlying the Rules. These principles include the lawyer’s obligation zealously to protect and pursue a client’s legitimate interests, within the bounds of the law, while maintaining a professional, courteous and civil attitude toward all persons involved in the legal system.

Preamble to the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct

On 21 September 2023 I gave a presentation on Professional Conduct at the  Hybrid Training for ICC List Counsel, organized by the ICC Counsel Support Section (CSS) and sponsored by the European Commission.  It is always daunting to stand before fellow counsel to try to engage them in a discussion on matters of ethics, professional responsibility, and the disciplinary measures and consequences that result when we fall short of what is expected of us, or when we defend ourselves against allegations of ethical breaches. Also, there is only so much that can be covered in a couple of hours. Ethics training should be conducted on a regular basis. Might it also be prudent for ICC CSS to consider making it mandatory to take a modest number of hours of continuing legal education on ethics per year in order to be in good standing and remain on the List of Counsel? I think so.

With the Code being a skimpy 14 pages of 46 concise articles, anyone on the list could go over it while having a cup of coffee, even before it gets cold. Not to mention, one would think that expressing an interest in getting on the List of Counsel and eventually having a client would motivate one to read the Code, along with the Rome Statute and ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence. So, rather than do an article-by-article commentary, I highlighted aspects of the code to show how, in no small measure, we are guided by the code in our day-to-day activities in representing a client before the ICC. Much of what I covered also applies to other international(ized) criminal tribunals, and except where the Code might conflict with one’s national code, to representing clients in criminal matters before domestic courts. Here is the gist of my presentation. Continue reading “THE DILIGENCE THAT IS DUE: ICC Counsel Ethics Training”

On 29 June 2023, the International Committee of the Inner Temple organized a short training session for aspiring barristers on legal professional ethics before the international criminal tribunals. The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple has been in existence since the 14^th Century. It is one of the four unincorporated, not-for-profit membership associations for barristers and judges in the UK, known as the Inns of Court. Together, they provide high-quality legal education and training for the barrister profession, delivered by senior members of the Bar and other key partners on a pro bono basis, and have the exclusive right to call students to the Bar of England and Wales.

Participating in the seminar were an ICC Judge (Kimberly Prost), an ICC Deputy Prosecutor (Nazhat Khan), and a defence counsel (yours truly). The program was moderated by ICC Judge Joanna Korner CMG KC – who, as an exceptionally experienced Queen’s Counsel, served two stints as a senior trial lawyer before the ICTY prior to becoming a judge of the Crown Court of England and Wales.  The event was informative, engaging, and collegially lively. But there was something more to it, something important that is generally absent in most training seminars, especially on ethics: the inclusion of three pillars of criminal proceedings (missing only a representative of victims counsel) on a panel, so they and the audience can hear about each other, from each other, with their different perspectives being aired, considered, debated, appreciated, and/or rejected. Continue reading “DISCOURSE AT THE INNER TEMPLE ON NAVIGATING THE CODES OF CONDUCT STRAIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS: a format that is missing, overlooked, or (un)intentionally rebuffed?”