Guide for App.eng w Cover

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Please note: It is of utmost importance to fully understand and properly follow theinstructions provided in the present guide, as incomplete or wrongly completed applicationscannot be processed.

Guide for applicantsto the ICC List of Counseland Assistants to Counsel


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Guide for applicantsto the ICC List of Counseland Assistants to Counsel

Please note: It is o utmost importance to ully understand and properly ollow theinstructions provided in the present guide, as incomplete or wrongly completed applicationscannot be processed.


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Table

ofcontents

Table o contents

The ICC Lists o Counsel and Assistants to Counsel 5

Admission criteria 6

1. List o Counsel 62. List o Assistants to Counsel 6

Application process 7

1. List o Counsel 72. List o Assistants to Counsel 7

3. Process o review o applications 94. Decision on reusal and right to review 9

Practicing beore the ICC 10

1. Freedom o choice as a principle 102. Ad hoc counsel 103. Duty counsel 114. Other instances where counsel are appointed 11

Remuneration and support 12

1. The legal aid system o the Court 122. Administrative and logistical support 13

Sample application orms 16

1. Candidate application orm or List o Counsel 16

2. Certicate o good standing or candidatesto the List o Counsel 26

3. List o Counsel additional inormation orm 274. List o Assistants to Counsel candidate

application orm 285. Certicate o good standing or candidates

to the List o Assistants 36


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The ICC Lists o Counsel and Assistants to Counsel

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has a mandate to prosecute and punish personsresponsible or the most serious crimes o concern to the international community. In so doing,its proceedings ollow highest standards o due process and procedural airness. The RomeStatute guarantees victims, accused persons and under certain conditions suspects the right to

be assisted by counsel. As part o this aim, the Court endeavours to oer these individuals apool o highly qualied counsel.

Experienced lawyers who wish to represent deendants or victims as counsel beore the Courtmust be admitted to the List o Counsel. Lawyers at an early stage o their career, as well asproessors o law with relevant expertise, can apply or admission to the List o Assistants toCounsel. Every list member can express their preerence, i any, to represent either deendantsor victims or both.

T

heICCListsofCoun

selandAssistantsto

Counsel


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Admissioncriteria

Admission criteria

1. List o Counsel

To be admitted to the List o Counsel, candidates must meet the ollowing requirements:

Competence: Candidates shall have proven competence and expertise in international orcriminal law and procedure.

Experience: Candidates must have a minimum o ten years o relevant experience in criminalproceedings as a judge, prosecutor, advocate or in other similar capacity.

Proessors o law meet this requirement only where they have intervened in criminal proceedingsor a minimum o ten years in one o the capacities listed above; otherwise, they can be admittedto the List o Assistants.

Language skills: Applicants must have excellent knowledge o and be fuent in at least one othe two working languages o the Court, namely English or French.

Record o High Standing Required o the Proession: Candidates must not have beenconvicted o any serious criminal or disciplinary oence considered to be incompatible withthe nature o the oce o counsel beore the Court. In cases where candidates have been theobject o such a conviction, the Registrar will assess whether the imposed sanction is o a naturethat impedes the candidates ability to act beore the Court in accordance with the relevantprovisions o the legal texts o the Court. Candidates in this situation are invited, at the time osubmitting their applications, to provide the Court with a copy o each relevant decision, as wellas any observations they wish to provide.

2. List o Assistants to Counsel

To be admitted to the List o Assistants, candidates must meet one o the ollowing tworequirements:

Five years o relevant experience in criminal proceedings: Lawyers who have insucientexperience to be admitted to the List o Counsel can provide very useul assistance to counselin preparing and presenting the case beore the Chamber.

Specifc competence in international or criminal law and procedure: The Court alsoseeks to allow counsel to receive the assistance o proessors and other academic experts whohave relevant expertise in international or criminal law. Even where these persons may haveinsucient or no experience in criminal proceedings, their theoretical knowledge o the relevantlaw and jurisprudence makes them an invaluable asset to legal teams.


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Applic

ationprocess

Application process

1. List o Counsel

The ollowing documents must be submitted. All required orms must be downloaded andprinted rom the ICC website atwww.icc-cpi.int. Samples o all orms can be ound at the end

o this Guide:

1. Candidate application orm

2. Detailed curriculum vitae, allowing or appraisal o the candidates competenceand experience

3. Certicate issued by the relevant authority o each State o which the person is anational or where the person is domiciled stating the existence, i any, o criminalconvictions

4. Legible copy o birth certicate

5. Legible copy o identity card (where applicable)

6. Legible copy o passport/travel document

7. Two passport size photographs

8. List o Counsel additional inormation orm

9. Certicate o good standing orm

The Registry will only accept this orm. Documents provided by the national bar/governing authority in lieu o this orm will not be accepted.

10. Original or certied copy o registration with governing body

11. Valid copy o proessional insurance policy (where applicable)

2. List o Assistants to Counsel

1. Candidate application orm

2. Detailed curriculum vitae, allowing or appraisal o the candidates competenceand experience

3. Certicate issued by the relevant authority o each State o which the person is anational or where the person is domiciled stating the existence, i any, o criminalconvictions

4. Legible copy o birth certicate

5. Legible copy o identity card (where applicable)


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Applic

ationprocess

6. Legible copy o passport/travel document

7. Two passport size photographs

In addition to the six documents above, applicants who are either proessors or have beencalled to the bar at the national level must also provide the ollowing required documents as

applicable:

8. Original or certied copy o the certicate issued by the bar association, proes-sional association and/or the controlling administrative authority with which youare registered;

9. For academics: An ocial letter issued by the institution where you are acting asan adjunct-, part-, or ulltime- proessor, certiying your tenure and specialty as aninstructor, and

10. Certicate o good standing orm

The Registry will only accept this orm. Documents provided by the national bar/governing authority in lieu o this orm will not be accepted.

11. Valid copy o proessional insurance policy.

Candidates must submit by postal mail a duly completed application along with all requiredsupporting documents as outlined above to the attention o the Counsel Support Section at theollowing address:

ICC Counsel Support SectionP.O. Box 195192500 CM The HagueThe Netherlands

Candidates should address their questions ONLY to the ICC Counsel Support Section at

Tel: +31 70 515 8787,Fax: +31 70 515 8555;e-mail: [email protected]

All required application orms are available or download at:

www.icc-cpi.int


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3. Process o review o applications

Ater the application is received, the Counsel Support Section within the Registry proceeds toa preliminary verication check or completeness. Complete applications are then transmittedto a three member evaluation panel o the Registry or assessment o the qualications o theapplicant in accordance with the admission criteria. Should the appraisers need additional

inormation and explanations, they may revert back to the candidate. In practice, this can occurin the ollowing non-exhaustive circumstances:

- the inormation urnished by the candidate does not provide sucient detailsabout their competence in international/domestic criminal law and procedure;

- the application o the candidate casts doubt on their (English or French) languageskills, or

- the applicant was the subject o disciplinary action, but no urther documentationis provided.

The panel adopts its resolutions by consensus, and communicates to candidates the appropriatedecision.

The Registry pursues a policy o prompt and diligent examination o all complete applications.In the ordinary course, the Registrar will deliver a decision on an application within a monthater receipt.

Incomplete applications will cause delays in processing and issuing o the ultimate decision. Itis thereore imperative that interested candidates careully read the application instructions and

provide a complete application orm along with all the requisite supporting documentation.

4. Decision on reusal and right to review

Where an applicant is reused admission, he or she will be duly notied with sucient detailso the reasons or the reusal. The reusal letter will also highlight the right o the candidate toseek review o the decision.

Applications or review may be made within 15 days o notication o the Registrars decision

and shall be sent to the Court Management Section [email protected]

Applic

ationprocess


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PracticingbeforetheICC

Practicing beore the ICC

1. Freedom o choice as a principle

The right to reely choose counsel or legal representation is well saeguarded and entrenchedin the legal regime o the Court both or deendants and or victims. Where a person in need o

legal representation wishes to appoint his or her own lawyer, the latter must nevertheless provethat he or she meets the conditions required by the legal texts o the Court, and thereore topresent a complete application to the services o the Registry as indicated below.

The Registry o the Court acilitates the exercise o this reedom o choice by providing anyperson in need o legal representation with the List o Counsel, which contains detailedinormation, permitting the individual concerned to make a preliminary shortlist o suitablecounsel whose complete les he or she wants to examine or an ultimate appointment.

This short-list is then provided to representatives o the Registry, who will in turn make availableto him or her, in the shortest possible time, the complete les o the short-listed counsel or the

purpose o detailed review, and eventually, a nal decision on the choice o counsel.

Ater an examination o the les and, i need be, having liaised with counsel by telephone orpersonally, the person concerned noties the Registrar o the Court o the name o the lawyerhe or she would like to have appointed as counsel. The Registry then contacts the namedcounsel to notiy him or her that they have been chosen and requests their availability.

The procedure is nalised when the chosen counsel conrms his or her acceptance andcommunicates it to the Registrar. The Registry then seals the appointment by arranging or theormalities o the appointment and other logistical matters.

To guarantee the rights o participants in proceedings beore the Court, the Registry takes allappropriate measures to ensure that the chosen counsel is entirely capable o exercising his orher mandate (i.e. by ensuring that the counsel is available and ree to properly discharge his orher duties towards the client etc.).

Appointed counsel is responsible or structuring his or her team, including the selection o theassociate counsel, who must also be admitted to the List o Counsel.

2. Ad hoc counsel

A Chamber can appoint ad hoc counsel to represent the general interests o the deence wherethere is a unique opportunity to take testimony, a statement rom a witness or to examine, collector test evidence which may not be available subsequently or the purposes o a trial or, nally,

where the interests o justice so require. This type o appointment is especially relevant wherethere is no person charged but investigative activities are being carried out by the Prosecutor, inparticular where victims apply to participate in the proceedings at this preliminary investigationstage. The mandates o ad hoc counsel are limited in time and scope and have a clear purposein the context o a situation or case under the jurisdiction o the Court.


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Remunera

tionandsupport

Remuneration and support

1. The legal aid system o the Court

A key component in guaranteeing the rights o participants in ICC proceedings is the legal aidsystem o the Court, which provides nancial assistance to those who lack sucient means to

pay or their legal representation.

While any deendant has the right to have legal assistance paid by the Court, victims parallelright is not absolute. In both cases, the provision o legal aid has to be balanced against theavailable resources within the Courts budget.

Another undamental dierence between deendants and victims regarding the legal aid systemstems rom the act that the ormer stands to lose his or her liberty, and the presumption oinnocence requires that they benet rom legal representation even i the person so concernedlacks sucient means to cover the costs o their deence. Moreover, victims participation inthe proceedings is limited to the extent that the relevant Chamber authorises them to present

their views and concerns, and thereore the scope o legal aid depends on the actual orms oparticipation decided in each case.

Guiding principles governing the Courts legal aid system Equality o arms: The legal aid payment system o the Court aims to maintain a

balance between the resources o the dierent participants.

Objectivity: The Courts legal aid payment system allocates resources on the basis othe requirements o the case.

Transparency: The payment system is structured and operated to comply with therequirements o budgetary oversight in the management o public unds withoutinterering with the condentiality o counsels work as well as the autonomy o legalteams.

Continuity: The payment system will provide or mechanisms that are fexibleenough to adapt to situations as they arise in order to preclude any paralysis prejudicialto the interests o the due administration o justice.

Economy: The legal aid system o the Court will only cover the necessary andreasonable expenditure arising rom the assistance or representation o deendants or

victims.

Team compositionAs it would be impossible or a single person to manage a case beore the Court dueto the complexity and amount o tasks and materials involved, the Courts legal aidsystem provides or assistance to counsel by several persons throughout theproceedings.

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Counsel and team members also receive inormation on the dierent services attheir disposal or the length o their involvement in cases beore the Court such assubmitting ormal requests or various services, inormation technologies andcommunications, acilities management, travel, interpretation and translation.

Counsel can also benet rom the assistance o interns in the ramework o the

internship programme o the Court. Moreover, in order to have interns available whocan be immediately incorporated into the teams, the Registry has created the post opro bono consultants.

Logistical assistanceLegal teams will be given oces at the Court premises, equipped with the necessaryoce supplies including telephone, computer, relevant hardware and sotware,internet access, et cetera.

In order to ensure condentiality and security o the work, the Court has set upseparate networks or each team. Moreover, recognising that counsel have active

practices in their home jurisdictions, to ease the burden on counsel to be permanentlybased in The Hague, and to generally acilitate the work o legal teams, the Court hasput in place a secured remote access system, through which counsel can access theirles and work real-time on the case rom a distance.

The ICC is a state o the art international court with the latest technologies. Itoperates as an e-Court. Appropriate training regarding the specic sotware relatedto the e-Court system is provided to counsel and their team members.

Assistance in the feld

Cases beore the Court necessarily entail travelling to the eld in order to perorminvestigative work. The Court has established eld oces in or near countries withsituations under investigation beore the Court and provides counsel and their teams

with assistance and support in the execution o their investigative requirements. Theseservices include oce use, security support, liaison with national authorities andorganisation o local and national transport.

Locally based members o the legal team working with counsel also benet rom thisassistance.

Substantive assistance: the Ofces o Public Counsel

With two independent oces o public counsel the Court has introduced an importantinnovation or international criminal courts and tribunals. These permanent ocesreinorce the eciency o counsel beore the Court, assist the Chambers when calledupon to do so and, where applicable, persons in need o legal assistance.

Their sta consists o specialised proessionals, who are permanently updated onthe work and jurisprudence o the Court and who can provide immediate substantivelegal assistance.

Remunera

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The Ofce o Public Counsel or the Deence (OPCD)The OPCD can represent and protect the rights o the deence during the initialstages o the investigation. In addition, it can provide support and assistance todeence counsel and to suspects and accused persons entitled to legal assistance byurnishing legal research and advice and appearing beore a Chamber in respect ospecic issues.

The Ofce o Public Counsel or Victims (OPCV) The OPCV undertakes to protect the interests o victims through attempting to

raise the general awareness on victims issues. The Oce provides support andassistance to legal representative o victims and to victims, including, whereappropriate, legal research and advice; and appearing beore a Chamber in respect ospecic issues. The Oce can also act as legal representative o victims in theproceedings.

Remunera

tionandsupport


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Sampleapplicationforms

Sample application orms - Not or use!

1. Candidate application orm or List o Counsel (page 1)


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Sample application orms



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2. Certifcate o good standing or candidates to the List o Counsel


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3. List o Counsel additional inormation orm


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4. List o Assistants to Counsel candidate application orm (page 1)


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5. Certifcate o good standing or candidates to the List o Assistants