Rodney Dixon QC has a diverse practice in the UK and globally in international law, public law, inquiries, compliance and regulation, and human rights. He appears on behalf of Governments, serving and former Heads of State, politicians, military commanders, individual complainants and defendants, international organisations, companies and businesses, NGOs, and victim groups. He specialises in public international law, international criminal law, and human rights and civil liberties before all international, regional and national courts. His expertise lies in cases concerning foreign relations, inter-State disputes, the armed forces, international prosecutions and defence, public inquiries, universal jurisdiction, claims with international components, mediation and arbitration, cross-border proceedings, asset recovery, extradition and mutual assistance. He is described in Chambers and Partners “as an exceptional barrister with clients on every continent” and “respected for his excellent advocacy skills and strong client care”.
Rodney’s work covers all international criminal courts; UN proceedings, claims, and special procedures; actions before the International Court of Justice (ICJ); cases at the European Court of Human Rights; applications before the African Commission and African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights; Privy Council cases; bilateral investment treaty matters; territorial and border disputes; public inquiries and investigations; World Bank Sanctions Board proceedings; land claims and reparations; corporate compliance and regulation; detentions abroad; Interpol and international and European arrest warrants; and, private international law cases.
He is widely recognised as a leading counsel and expert for all international criminal courts and regularly appears before the ICC and other international criminal courts like the ICTY and ICTR for individual defendants, States, and victims, including on behalf of the UK Government; the Government of Kenya; the Comoros Government; the former Government of Egypt; the Government of Rwanda; the Prime Minister of Kosovo; Mr. Abdullah Al-Senussi; victims of the Gaza Flotilla raid; and, interveners in the Sudan ICC Situation in the case concerning President Al Bashir, and victims from Darfur. He is one of a handful of lawyers who has both prosecuted and defended in international courts. He has acted and advised before other hybrid courts including the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Iraqi Special Tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and the War Crimes Division of the High Court of Uganda.
Rodney has advised and lectured in the fields of bribery and corruption, money laundering, and cybercrime, with particular emphasis on the cross-border aspects and inter-State co-operation. He regularly lectures at conferences and seminars on international law, human rights, and civil liberties topics. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College. He has lectured at the UK armed forces Joint Services Staff College on the law of armed conflict, and was an instructor on the Canadian Armed Forces Law of Armed Conflict Course – Land, Naval and Air Operations. He has trained Judges and lawyers on international law, rule of law and human rights topics in several jurisdictions including in Sri Lanka, Mexico, Rwanda, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Lebanon, Bosnia, Nigeria, Serbia, Kosovo, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Italy and Germany.
He is often interviewed as an expert commentator including by the BBC, SKY News, Al Jazeera, RT News, and TRT World on topics such as the prosecution of UK soldiers serving abroad, arrest warrants for foreign leaders and universal jurisdiction, business responsibilities and compliance, border disputes, detentions abroad, and the developments in human rights cases around the world.