NICOLE SCHLESINGER - PhD Student Profile

Abstract of PhD Thesis
Extra-legal Factors Influencing the Development of the Law of the Int Criminal Tribunals for The Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda'
(expected completion date: July 2006)

Nicole's research aims to investigate the extent to which the national legal system backgrounds of judges and lawyers at the two ad hoc international criminal courts (ICTY and ICTR) may impact on the development of the jurisprudence of this new area of law.

She first became interested in this issue while undertaking a legal internship at the ICTR, which is based in Arusha, Tanzania. As an intern with Chambers, she had the opportunity to sit in during judges' deliberations and became fascinated by the process through which judges and legal assistants from a wide range of countries representing totally different legal systems sought to reach consensus on how to interpret a new international law, such as the Statutes for the ICTY and ICTR, many of the provisions of which have never been considered in the context of international criminal prosecution before. Her research aims to explore this dynamic based largely on a qualitative analysis of information obtained through interviews with judges, prosecution and defence counsel at the two tribunals.

Research to date suggests a comparative method is being used in the development of the law, by both judges and lawyers, although perhaps not consciously. A number of other factors, not related to national system background, that the parties perceive as having an influence on the conduct of proceedings and the interpretation of the law were also identified through the interview process.

A potential application of the research could be to identify essential elements to be included in the education and training of jurists working in the rapidly expanding area of international criminal law.

(January 2006)

Contact details:
law-apcml@unimelb.edu.au