Despite absence of U.S. from ICC, U.S. defense bar involved 

Washington DC (March 28, 2003) -- A delegation of 17 members of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has just returned from Berlin, where they attended the first full-membership session of the International Criminal Bar, an organization created to represent and regulate lawyers who will appear before the International Criminal Court. The ICB has been established to guarantee the independence of the legal profession that is essential for a fair system of international criminal justice.

Three NACDL members were elected to the group’s 42-member governing council.

President Clinton had originally signed the statute implementing the ICC, but subsequently President Bush withdrew the U.S. from participation. Nonetheless, NACDL members have remained active in ensuring that the defense function will be properly represented at the ICC.

Nancy Hollander (past president of NACDL and criminal defense lawyer from Albuquerque) was elected as the NACDL representative to the governing council and chair of the ICB’s training committee. Ken Gallant (law professor and criminal defense lawyer from Little Rock) and Chidi Ogolo (criminal defense lawyer from Washington, D.C.) were elected as individual members of the council. Elise Groulx (criminal defense lawyer from Montreal) was elected to the council as the representative from the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association, an NACDL affiliate. The council then elected Groulx to be the first president of the ICB.

NACDL board of directors member John Wesley Hall, Jr. (criminal defense lawyer from Little Rock) wrote substantial portions of the ethics code adopted by the ICB. Member Dan Arshack (criminal defense lawyer from New York City) also contributed substantial work to the ethics effort and has been actively involved, along with Hollander and Gallant, in the evolution of the ICB for the past two years.

The ICB Web site: www.bpi-icb.org, or visit www.nacdl.org and click News & Issues.

Hollander can be reached at (505) 842-9960. 

Contacts

NACDL Communications Department

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.