Wayne Jordash

Profile

Wayne is a recognised expert in international criminal and human rights law, having represented clients in the United Kingdom and in most of the international or hybrid criminal tribunals.

He provides specialist transitional justice advice to a range of clients, including individuals, governments, and NGOs. His practice encompasses the UK courts, including the Privy Council, and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). In this capacity, he is regularly invited to lecture at the world’s leading universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Yale on humanitarian law related subjects.

Currently Wayne is leading a team of lawyers at the ICTY defending Jovica Stanišić, the first intelligence chief to be tried by an international criminal tribunal. Stanišić is alleged to have been the second in command in the Milošević regime during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

Wayne is also acting as a consultant to the Appellant team in the case of Sagahutu convicted in 2011 at the ICTR for the unlawful killing of UN peacekeepers and the Prime Minister.

In 2013, he has been instructed by the International Commission of Jurists to assess and provide advice on the viability of prosecution of a head of state for the alleged commission of international crimes.

Publications

Contribution to Taylor on Appeals (2011) (Oxford University Press) - a practitioners textbook dealing with procedural aspects of criminal appeals and review in the English jurisdiction as well as the European Court of Human Rights, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and the human rights bodies under the auspices of the United Nations, and Inter-American Commission and Court.
The Right to be Informed of the Nature and Cause of the Charges: A Potentially Formidable Jurisprudential Legacy - Judicial Creativity at the International Criminal Tribunals (2010) (Oxford University Press).
Failure to Carry the Burden of Proof: How Joint Criminal Enterprise Lost its Way at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (2010)(Journal of International Criminal Justice).
Trials in Absentia at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon: Incompatibility with International Human Rights Law (2010) (Journal of International Criminal Justice).
Due Process and Fair Trial Rights at the Special Court: How the Desire for Accountability Outweighed the Demands of Justice at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (2010) (Leiden Journal of International Law).
The Practice of 'Witness Proofing' in International Criminal Tribunals: Why the International Criminal Court Should Prohibit the Practice (2009) (Leiden Journal of International Law).
Forthcoming publications in 2013 include: Joint Defences at the International Tribunals - (International Bar Association); Joint Criminal Enterprise and Result-Orientated Justice (The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives) and a contribution to a book entitled, “Pluralism in International Criminal Law” (Oxford University Press).

Commercial Experience

Wayne began his career in 1995 working at Clifford Chance Solicitors as a legal assistant. He was a member of the legal team involved in the formation of individual contracts for the privatisation of British Rail and British Coal.

International Crime

Over the last decade, Wayne has been instructed to appear to represent clients at most of the international and hybrid criminal tribunals.

Clients have included a mayor from Rwanda (Baglishema), a government sponsored businessman (Bagaragaza) and the leader of the Sierra Leonean Revolutionary United Front (RUF) (Sesay).

His practice also includes a wide range of consultancies, e.g., advising on domestic prosecutions of international crimes and related humanitarian law issues. This work has included advising at the ECCC on a range of international law issues relevant to the defence of former Khmer Rouge members of the Pol Pot regime, including the deputy to Pol Pot (Nuon Chea) and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Khieu Samphan), advising the Libyan Ministry of Justice (on the viability of domestic prosecutions), the International Commission of Jurists (prosecution of international crimes), and the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights (CCHR) (on a range of international, criminal and human rights law issues for the NGO that works to promote democracy and human rights throughout Cambodia).

Additionally, Wayne lectures worldwide on a range of humanitarian and criminal law issues, including in 2012/13: “Evidentiary Challenges for the Defence in International Criminal Law”, “Case Selection at the SCSL and its Impact upon Legacy”, and “Prosecutorial Responsibilities: Partisan Advocates or Ministers of Justice?”

Other Serious Criminal Offences

Prior to specializing in international law, Wayne’s practice was principally focused on criminal defence work in the UK courts, including the Privy Council. Examples of his work include:

R v Wright [~~June 2001],~~ Central Criminal Court. Prosecution of Alleged Murder.
R v Redfern [~~June 1999],~~ Leicester Crown Court. Prosecution of a senior police officer following a 2-year investigation by the National Crime Squad into alleged corruption by serving police officers.
R v Duberry [~~January 1999],~~ Hull Crown Court. Prosecution of high profile footballers from Leeds United for Violent Disorder and Grievous Bodily Harm ("The Leeds Football Case").
R v Brown ~~[January – March 1998],~~ Central Criminal Court. Prosecution of Violent disorder at the London Notting Hill Carnival. See reported case: Brown, The Times August 25, 2000 – The mens rea of Violent Disorder.
Osman v DPP ~~[July 1997], High Court~~. Prosecution of Affray. See reported case: Osman v. DPP, The Independent (C.S.) July 26, 1997 DC - The unlawful exercise of statutory powers to search without arrest.

Membership

Chair of the Publication Committee for the Association of Defence Counsel Conference at the ICTY
Founding member of ilawyers blog: (http://ilawyerblog.com)