Michael Newton

professor, Vanderbilt University Law School

Mike Newton is an expert on accountability and conduct of hostilities issues. Over the course of his career, he has published more than 70 articles and book chapters, as well as opinion pieces for the New York Times, International Herald Tribune and other papers. Professor Newton is a member of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law and the International Bar Association. At Vanderbilt, he developed and teaches the innovative International Law Practice Lab and develops externships and other educational opportunities for students interested in international legal issues. Professor Newton served on the American Society of International Law Task Force on U.S. Policy Toward the International Criminal Court and on an Experts Group in support of the Task Force on Genocide Prevention established by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has supervised Vanderbilt law students working in support of the Public International Law Policy Group to advise the governments of Afghanistan, Kosovo, Sri Lanka and other nations. Professor Newton negotiated the Elements of Crimes; document for the International Criminal Court, and coordinated the interface between the FBI and the ICTY while deploying into Kosovo to do the forensics fieldwork in support of the Milosevic indictment. As the Senior Advisor to the United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, U.S. Department of State, Professor Newton implemented a wide range of policy positions related to the law of armed conflict, including U.S. support to accountability mechanisms worldwide. He was the senior member of the team that taught international law to the first group of Iraqis who began to think about accountability mechanisms and a constitutional structure in November 2000. He subsequently assisted in drafting the Statute of the Iraqi High Tribunal, and served as International Law Advisor to the Judicial Chambers in 2006 and 2007. Professor Newton has taught Iraqi jurists on seven other occasions, both inside and outside Iraq and as part of the academic consortium he assists Vanderbilt students in providing substantive advice to the lawyers in Iraq. He served as the U.S. representative on the U.N. Planning Mission for the Sierra Leone Special Court, and was also a member of the Special Court academic consortium. From January 1999 to August 2000, he served in the Office of War Crimes Issues, U.S. Department of State. Professor Newton began his distinguished military career as an armor officer in the 4th Battalion, 68th Armor, Fort Carson, Colorado until his selection for the Judge Advocate General's Funded Legal Education Program. As an operational military attorney, he served with the United States Army Special Forces Command (Airborne), Fort Bragg, North Carolina in support of units participating in Desert Storm. Following duty as the Chief of Operational Law, he served as the Group Judge Advocate for the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He deployed on Operation Provide Comfort to assist Kurdish civilians in Northern Iraq, as well as a number of other exercises and operations. From 1993-1995 he was reassigned as the Brigade Judge Advocate for the 194th Armored Brigade (Separate), during which time he organized and led the human rights and rules of engagement education for all Multinational Forces and International Police deploying into Haiti. He subsequently was appointed as a Professor of International and Operational Law at the Judge Advocate General's School, Charlottesville, Virginia from 1996-1999. He currently serves as senior editor of the *Terrorism International Case Law Reporter* series published annually by Oxford University Press.