Patricia Viseur Sellers and Leila Nadya Sadat named Special Advisers to ICC Prosecutor

Delighted to report that, in addition to Diane's new position, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced today the appointment of Patricia Viseur Sellers (pictured right) as Special Adviser on International Criminal Law Prosecution Strategies and IntLawGrrls contributor Professor Leila Nadya Sadat (pictured below left) as Special Adviser on Crimes against Humanity.
Patricia's position will focus on the OTP's policies and training around international criminal law prosecution strategies.  Leila will assist in the formulation of the OTP's strategic policies relating to crimes against humanity.
 Patricia, a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, has extensive experience in international criminal litigation.  She has worked as Acting Senior Trial Lawyer, Legal Advisor for Gender, and Deputy Head of the Legal Advisory Section in the OTP at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).  In those roles, she advised teams of investigators and trial attorneys on the prosecution of sex-based crimes in international criminal law and international humanitarian law.  Patricia has worked several prominent international prosecutions, including the Furundžija, Kunarac and Akayesu cases. She has been widely published on sexual violence in armed conflict and has advised governments, international organizations and civil society groups on international criminal law strategies. She is a recipient of the American Society of International Law’s Prominent Women in International Law Award.

Leila is a leading global authority on crimes against humanity.  She is currently the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where she directs the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute and the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative. She is also the Alexis de Tocqueville Distinguished Fulbright Chair, University of Cergy-Pontoise and the the Director and Co-Founder of the Summer Institute for International Law and Policy at Utrecht University in The Netherlands. Leila the author of over 75 articles and books, for which she has won several awards, including the recently-published  Forging A Convention For Crimes Against Humanity which won the International Association of Penal Law's Outstanding Book of the Year Award in 2011.  Her extensive work in the field of international law has been recognized through her membership on the Council on Foreign Relations as well as her numerous leadership positions in professional associations and societies, including the International Law Association, the American Society of International Law, and the American Society of Comparative Law.
Heartfelt congratulations!