International Criminal Court Bar Association

Philippe Larochelle is the founder of Larochelle Avocats, www.larochelleavocats.com, a litigation boutique based in Montreal, Canada. Mr. Larochelle maintains an active practice in international criminal law since 2001, representing clients before the ICTR, the ICC and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. He has also assisted groups of victims, including before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.After obtaining genocide acquittals for his clients before the ICTR and in Canada, and the release by the ICC of his most recent client, Maxime Mokom, Mr. Larochelle practices now includes a sharp focus on neglected post-acquittals matters : relocation, compensation and review. One of his ICTR pro bono mandate is that of André Ntagerura, acquitted by the ICTR in February 2004 and still trying to find an acceptable relocation plan in 2024, 20 years later.

Anta Guissé has been a practising lawyer at the Paris Bar in France since 1999. Her working language is French, while she also speaks English. As a criminal defence lawyer, she has appeared regularly before national criminal courts and the Assize Court in particular. In addition, Ms Guissé has several years of experience appearing before the international jurisdictions. Between 2002 and 2010, she worked with several different defence teams before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, firstly as a legal assistant and then as counsel. In 2010, Ms Guissé had an assignment in a team of Legal Representatives of Victims before the International Criminal Court. She was also Defence Counsel at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Since 2012, Ms Guissé has been acting as an international lawyer for former Chairman KHIEU Samphân before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and is currently Counsel for Mr. Yekatom at the ICC. Ms Guissé also regularly presents at training workshops for colleagues on the subject of international criminal justice.

Anand A. Shah is an American attorney, and presently Associate Counsel on the team of the Common Legal Representative of Victims in the Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”) trial before the ICC. Prior to this he assisted in the representation of defendants in the Darfur, Kenya and Libya Situations before the ICC, in cases before the STL, and acted as counsel before the ICC Disciplinary Board. He is the current ICCBA Vice President for Victims, and has previously served on the Executive Council, as well as the following Committees: Victims, Professional Standards, Amicus, Legal Advisory, and Counsel Support Staff. He has also taken a leading role on ICCBA working groups addressing matters of legal aid, taxation, and work place harassment.

Audrey MATEO is currently a Legal adviser in the Defence team of Mr. Abd-Al-Rahman at the ICC. She was also an active member of the Executive Committee at the ICCBA  (2023-2024). In 1997, she completed her law studies in Aix en Provence and Montpellier, France. She then studied in Cape Town, South Africa where she obtained an LL.M. in human rights and international law at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Early in her career, at the European Commission in Brussels, she worked in the task-Force on the Future on the European Union. She then worked as a Legal officer for 10 years in Chambers at the ICTY and at the ICC in the Katanga trial. She lived two years Cambodia where she worked as both a legal and pro bono consultant for human rights NGOs and supporting victims’ lawyers before the ECCC. She was also a consultant at the at the KSC-SPO. Since 2021, Audrey works as an UNHCR judge at the Cour Nationale du droit d’ Asile in Paris, and she also gives trainings as a consultant on the prevention of sexual harassment at work. She is also an active member of the Association des Magistrats Internationaux Francophones (AMIF).

Since being called to the Berlin Bar, Natalie von Wistinghausen specialises in criminal law as a trial advocate and has acquired wide-ranging legal experience in domestic and international legal criminal work. She was admitted to the List of Counsel at the ICC, the KSC, the STL and the MICT. Before the ICTR, she was Legal Assistant in the defense team of former Cabinet Minister Justin Mugenzi and in Germany, she was Lead Counsel in a case against Rwandan bourgmestre Rwabukombe who was accused of charges relating to the genocide. Besides her domestic work as defense counsel, she was assigned as Co-Counsel to protect the interests and rights of one of the accused in the in absentia proceedings of at the STL. She also worked as a Senior Rule of Law expert in the UK government project „Strengthening the Judicial System in Kosovo“. Since 2019 Natalie is representing Yazidi victims in universal jurisdiction cases against alleged „ISIS“ members before Higher Regional Courts in Germany. She has also filed criminal complaints on behalf of NGOs who are representing victims of chemical attacks in Syria as well as victims of international crimes committed in Ukraine. In October 2021, she was appointed as Common Legal Representative of Victims in the case against Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (situation in Darfur, Sudan) at the ICC.

Haneen is an international criminal law practitioner from Syria; she has experience in the defence in the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. She is currently part of the defence team of Mr. Ali Abd Al Rahman as a legal assistant. Prior to her current position, she was a member of the defence teams of Mr Mokom and Mr. Al Hassan. Haneen has experience working on SGBV (UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence), reparations, and a wide range of procedural issues related to international criminal proceedings, namely disclosure and management of evidence. Haneen is a graduate of LLM Public International Law from Leiden University and the Sorbonne.

Haydee Dijkstal is a UK barrister and US attorney with over 15 years of experience practicing international criminal and human rights law before international tribunals including the ICC. Haydee’s practice includes work before the ICC, ICTY, SCSL, ECtHR, African Commission and Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and various UN bodies.  Haydee has been a member of legal teams before the International Criminal Court since 2011 representing parties including the defence, victims and Governments. Haydee has extensive experience with victim representation before the ICC.  She is currently representing victims at the ICC in the Situation in Afghanistan and Situation in Ukraine, and previously acted on legal teams for victims in a number of other situations and to raise victims’ interests in Article 15 submissions. Other instructions before the ICC include acting on the defence team for Abdullah Al-Senussi in the Libya Situation; and on the legal team for the Kenyan Government. In addition, she has been instructed as counsel for amicus curiae submissions before the Court.

Kate Gibson has been representing accused before the international criminal courts and tribunals since 2005. At the ICC, Kate was the Co-Counsel of former Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Jean-Pierre Bemba and the Co-Counsel of Bosco Ntaganda.  At the SCSL, she was Co-Counsel of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. At the ICTY, Kate was the Associate Legal Officer of Judge Mohamed Shahabadeen, and then Co-Counsel of former President of the Republika Sprska Radovan Karadžić before the IRMCT. At the ICTR, Kate was Lead Counsel of former Minister Justin Mugenzi and Co-Counsel of Jean-Baptiste Gatete, and is currently Lead Counsel of Prosper Mugiraneza before the IRMCT. Currently, Kate is Associate Counsel to Joseph Kony before the ICC, and Legal Consultant to Maxime Mokom before the ICC. She is also part of the legal team of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi before the Kosovo Specialist Chamber. Kate also represents a group of Rohingya victims in the Myanmar/Bangladesh situation, and was part of a legal team representing victims in the first case before the ECCC.  Kate also works in hostage diplomacy, and was Lead Counsel of Paul Rusesabagina detained in Rwanda, and currently represents US citizen Ryan Corbett, detained by the Taliban. Kate is the former President (2023) of the Association of Defence Counsel Practising before the International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT), a former member of the ICCBA Executive Council (2022), and regularly lectures, teaches and trains in international law and procedure. Kate is an Associate Tenant of Doughty Street Chambers, holds an LLM in International Law from Cambridge University.

Megan Hirst is an Australian lawyer, practicing from the London bar. She has been working at and before the ICC since 2009, with a particular focus on victim participation. At the ICC she has undertaken victim representation in the Ongwen Case, the Bangladesh/Myanmar Situation and the Afghanistan Situation. From 2019 until 2022 she was International Lead Co-Lawyer for victims participating as civil parties in Case 002/02 at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Megan was previously a legal officer in the Registries of the ICC and the STL, primarily working on victim participation. Megan has previously served three terms on the Executive Council (2019-2021, 2023-2024) and in 2019-2021 was also Vice President for Victims and a member of the Victims’ Committee.