Past Directors

Professor Eyal Benvenisti 2016 - 2023

Professor Eyal Benvenisti became Centre Director in January 2016 overseeing a busy 8-year period of growth for the Centre. 

Professor Benvenisti has been the Whewell Professor of International law, Anny and Paul Yanowicz Professor of Human Rights at Tel Aviv University and Hersch Lauterpacht Professor of Law at the Hebrew University. He has also been Global Professor of Law at New York University, and Visiting Professor at Yale, Harvard, Toronto, Columbia, Pennsylvania, Michigan. 

Prof Benvenisti's areas of research and teaching are international law, constitutional law and administrative law. Professor Benvenisti stepped down as Centre Director in 2023.

Professor Mark Weller, 2010 - 2015

Professor Marc Weller is Professor of International Law and International Constitutional Studies at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law.  He is an author, editor and co-editor of some 30 books.  

He is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, counsel and expert in major international litigation, a qualified mediator, a former Senior United Nations Mediation Expert and legal advisor in peace negotiations.

James Crawford AC SC, 1997-2003 and 2006-2010

Professor James Crawford AC SC FBA LLD was Whewell Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, and Judge at the International Court of Justice. Judge Crawford was a distinguished academic and practitioner in the field of international law. He left his position as Director of the Centre in 2003 to take up the role of Chair of the Faculty of Law. In 2006 he recommenced as Director, stepping down for the second time in 2010.

Judge Crawford had an extensive practice in international law and international arbitration, appearing before the ICJ, ITLOS, ICSID and ICC tribunals. He was an arbitrator in ICSID and ad hoc arbitrations as well as in inter-state cases. He was a member of the ICSID panel of arbitrators and an author of numerous books, and co-edited the British Yearbook of International Law. He was previously a Member of the Australian Law Reform Commission (1982-1990) and the International Law Commission (1992-2001). He was the ILC Special Rapporteur on State Responsibility from 1997-2001. Professor Crawford passed away in May 2021.

In memoriam: HE Judge James Crawford AC SC FBA

Dr Charlotte Ku, 2006 - 2007

Dr Charlotte Ku served as Acting Director from October 2006 to February 2007. She had previously served as Executive Director and Executive Vice-President of the American Society of International Law (ASIL), as well as a visiting professor at John Hopkins University and an assistant professor in government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia. 

Dr Ku has served on a number of management and editorial boards, including the Academic Council on the United Nations System. She has published over 40 academic papers.

In February 2007, Dr Ku took up the leadership of the University of Illinois College of Law's Graduate and International Studies Programme.

Daniel Bethlehem KC, 2003 - 2006

Daniel Bethlehem is a former Legal Adviser to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Prior to taking up this position, he was Director of the Centre, Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge. He is Kings Counsel practising at 20 Essex Street Chambers in London.

Mr Bethlehem has acted in a wide variety of matters across the full range of international law. He has appeared before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the European Court of Justice, the World Trade Organization, the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, the European Court of Human Rights and the House of Lords. He was a Panellist on the WTO Indicative List of Panellists, and an Arbitrator of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. He is the author/editor of a number of books and articles.

John Dugard SC, 1995 - 1997

John Dugard is one of South Africa's foremost experts in public international law, jurisprudence, human rights and criminal procedure. For 30 years he was professor of law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where  he directed the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, a unit that engaged in human rights research, advocacy and litigation. He participated in the drafting of the Bill of Rights of the 1996 South African Constitution. From 1998 to 2006 he was professor of international law at the University of Leiden.

John was a member of the UN International Law Commission for 15 years and was Special Rapporteur on Diplomatic Protection to this body. In 2001 he was appointed Chair of the UN Human Rights Inquiry Commission to Investigate Violations of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. From 2001 to 2008 he was UN  Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Since 2000 he has served intermittently as Judge ad hoc of the International Court of Justice. John is a member of the Instititut de droit international and an Honorary Member of the American Society of International Law (2008). Six South African universities have conferred honorary degrees on him.

In 2010 John was awarded the Gruber Foundation Justice Prize for championing international human rights law and in 2012 the President of South Africa conferred on him the Order of the Baobab (Gold), South Africa's highest civilian service award. 

Sir Elihu Lauterpacht CBE KC LLD, 1985 - 1995

Sir Hersch Lauterpacht's only son, Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, founded the Centre in 1983 and was Director until 1995. It is through his vision, energy and commitment that the Centre became the leading centre of activity in the UK in international law.

Sir Elihu had a distinguished career in international law practice and teaching. In 1950, he was called to the Bar, and became a KC in 1970. He practiced before the International Court of Justice and other international jurisdictions, as well as before the English courts. He was ad hoc judge in the Bosnia case before the International Court and was a distinguished arbitrator. In 1953, he became a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge and was Lecturer and Reader in International Law in the University. In 1994 he was appointed an Honorary Professor of International Law. Sir Elihu left a permanent mark on international law through his work as author, editor and innovator. He became editor of the International Law Reports in 1960, and inaugurated the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal Reports in 1983 and the ICSID Reports in 1993. He remained actively involved in practice as well as in the work of the Centre as its Director Emeritus.