Sir Howard Andrew Clive Morrison (born 20 July 1949), is a British lawyer and from 2011 to 2021 a Judge of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

based in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Netherlands. Currently UK advisor on war crimes to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General.

Legal career

Morrison was called to the Bar at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1977, following post-graduate study at the Inns of Court School of Law, where he was subsequently appointed a Bencher in 2008. From 1977 to 1985, he practised on the

Midland and Oxford Circuit The Crown Court is the court of first instance of England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some either way offences and appeals lied to it by the magistrates' courts. It is one of three Senior Courts of England and Wale ...

, including working in

courts martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

in the UK and Germany. In 1985, he was appointed Resident Magistrate and then Chief Magistrate of Fiji, and Senior Magistrate for

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

. In 1988, he was appointed

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territo ...

with specific responsibility for the speedy enactment of new anti-drugs legislation, and awarded an

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for leadership and court management services to the Fijian judiciary during complex military coups. He was called to the bars of

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

(in 1988) and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (in 1990). He returned to the United Kingdom in 1989, where he continued to work on the Midland Circuit, being appointed Assistant Recorder in 1993 and Recorder in 1997 with authority to try criminal, civil and family law cases. He served as a member of the Bar Council's Race Relations and Equal Opportunities Committees being a strong advocate for the appointment of more female and ethnic minority candidates for judicial posts. In 1998, he began working in defence at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha,

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, and the

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a body of the United Nations that was established to prosecute the war crimes that had been committed during the Yugoslav Wars and to try their perpetrators. The tribunal ...

(ICTY) in

, being appointed

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of ...

in 2001. In 2004, he ceased working at the war crimes tribunals to become a full-time Circuit Judge with authority to try all classes of criminal cases, and in 2008 became Senior Judge of the Sovereign Base Areas of Cyprus. He was appointed CBE in 2007 for services to international law Morrison was appointed a judge of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in 2009, but resigned shortly afterwards on his appointment as a Judge of the

(ICTY), succeeding

Lord Bonomy Iain Bonomy, Lord Bonomy, (born 15 January 1946) is a former Senator of the College of Justice, a judge of the College of Justice, Supreme Courts of Scotland, sitting in the High Court of Justiciary and the Inner House of the Court of Session fr ...

. Trial Judge in the case of Radovan Karadzic amongst others. Morrison was elected as one of the six judges for the

on 16 December 2011 at the International Criminal Court judges election during the 10th session of the Assembly of

States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court The states parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court are those sovereign states that have ratified, or have otherwise become party to, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The Rome Statute is the treaty that ...

. His ICC mandate expired on 31 March 2021 after service as President of the Appeals Division. On 26 October 2015, Morrison was knighted by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

as a

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(KCMG), for services to international justice and the rule of law.

Other appointments

Morrison was a Holding Redlich Distinguished Visiting Fellow at

Monash University Faculty of Law Monash University Faculty of Law, or Monash Law School, is the law school of Monash University. Founded in 1963, it is based in Melbourne, Victoria and has campuses in Malaysia and Italy. It is consistently ranked as one of the top law schools i ...

in 2007. He also lectures on

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by prot ...

throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, USA and Australia. He was a member of the Race Relations Committee of the Bar Council from 1996 to 2002 and of its Equal Opportunities Committee from 2002 to 2003. He is a member of the

International Bar Association The International Bar Association (IBA), founded in 1947, is a bar association of international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. The IBA currently has a membership of more than 80,000 individual lawyers and 190 bar associat ...

, the Commonwealth Judges and Magistrates Association, the

British Institute of International and Comparative Law British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

, and of the advisory board for the Journal of International Criminal Law. He was appointed a Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

(FRGS) in 1991, appointed Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts RSA2018. Appointed Hon Professor of Law, Leicester University 2012 and Senior Fellow, Lauterpacht Centre for International Law, Cambridge University 2013. Awarded LL.D octor of Lawsby Leicester University July 2014. Appointed Visiting Professor of law at Northumbria University 2017. Appointed to the advisory board of Durham University Law School 2017. He has been a visiting lecturer at 22 universities worldwide. Former TAVR infantry subaltern.

References

External links

Website of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
delivered 8 March 2007 at the

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

Law Chambers {{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Howard (barrister) 1949 births Living people Alumni of the University of London English King's Counsel Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 21st-century English judges 20th-century English judges International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia judges Members of Gray's Inn International Criminal Court judges British judges on the courts of Fiji British judges on the courts of Tuvalu Attorneys General of Anguilla Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George British judges of United Nations courts and tribunals British judges of international courts and tribunals