International Law Practice: Armchair Interview with Alan H. Kessel

International Law Practice: Armchair Interview with Alan H. Kessel

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The International Law Association of Canada is pleased to present a wide-ranging armchair discussion about international law practice with Alan H. Kessel, former Legal Advisor to the Department of Global Affairs Canada, moderated by Oonagh E. Fitzgerald, President of ILA Canada.

Alan Kessel was Assistant Deputy Minister Legal Affairs and Legal Adviser to Global Affairs Canada between September 2017 and May 2024. Prior to this appointment he was Deputy High Commissioner in London between September 2013 and August 2017. He held numerous positions in the Legal Branch of Global Affairs Canada, including that of the Legal Adviser (2005 - 2013); as Deputy Legal Adviser and Director General of the Bureau of Legal Affairs (2004 - 2005); as Director of the United Nations, Criminal and Treaty Law Division. His postings abroad included the Canadian Embassy in Sweden (1985 – 1987), the Canadian Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (1990 – 1994) and the Canadian High Commission in London, UK (2000 – 2004, 2013 -2017).

Alan Kessel spent a large part of his career negotiating bilateral and multilateral instruments ranging from extradition treaties to the establishment of international criminal justice systems to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. He represented Canadian interests before United Nations bodies and presented government views at Canadian Parliamentary Committees. His legal work on Arctic matters included delineation of Canada’s continental shelf and sovereignty questions in the far north.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976 from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1979 from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1981. After working in private practice in Toronto, he joined the Department of External Affairs and International Trade in 1983.

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