David Scheffer
Fmr. Amb. at Large for War Crimes Issues

• Does the ICC respect and promote American values? (2:39) Audio Video
• Is the ICC fair? (2:58) Audio Video
• Why should the U.S. participate in the ICC? (2:32) Audio Video
• How does participation in the ICC promote U.S. leadership? (2:01) Audio Video
• What should the U.S. government do now? (3:37) Audio Video

Biography

Professor Scheffer served as the U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues during the second term of the Clinton Administration and as Senior Adviser and Counsel to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1993-1996. He led the U.S. negotiating team in the UN talks on the International Criminal Court and he helped negotiate the creation of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the Extraordinary Chambers in Cambodia. He also served on the Deputies Committee of the National Security Council.

Professor Scheffer has worked as an associate attorney with the international law firm of Coudert Brothers, the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and most recently as Senior Vice President of the United Nations Association of the United States.

Scheffer recently held visiting professorships at Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University Law School and taught earlier at Duke University School of Law and Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. He has published extensively on international legal and political issues in books, law reviews, journals, and newspapers, as well as appearing regularly in the national and international media. He is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the International Law Students Association, and the American Society of International Law.