Staff profile

Ms Magda Karagiannakis

Lecturer

Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

La Trobe Law School

Melbourne (Bundoora)

 

Qualifications

B.Ec, LLB, LLM (Monash), LLM (Cum Laude) (Master of Public International Law) University of Leiden, Netherlands

Area of study

Law

Brief Profile

Ms. Karagiannakis is an international lawyer/barrister, academic and international consultant and trainer.  Her areas of expertise include: international criminal law, public international law, human rights law and private international law.

 She has extensive national and international practical experience having worked in Indonesia, Cambodia, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro and Croatia, and the Netherlands.

 Her early practice as a lawyer included practising in personal injury, mortgage and debt litigation. She then joined Slater & Gordon, practicing in general commercial litigation, civil litigation and administrative law.

 Following the completion of her Masters degree with honors, she was a lawyer associate to Judge Odio Benito and Judge David Hunt (formerly of Supreme Court of New South Wales).

 Following this she was a prosecutor with the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

 Selected Cases

 A selection of Ms. Karagiannakis' international cases include:

1.   Appearing as Counsel for the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina v The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).  This case concerned the state responsibility at public international law of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for breaches of the U.N. Genocide Convention (1948).  This resulted in the first finding of state responsibility by the ICJ for failure to prevent and punish genocide.(2005-2006)

  1. Appearing as counsel for the Office of the Prosecutor, United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on the Srebrenica and Leadership investigations and prosecutions.(1999-2005) This role included acting as counsel:

·          in the prosecution (trial and appeal) of General Radislav Krstic (Prosecutor v. Krstic). He was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity for the crimes committed in Srebrenica in July 1995. This was the first genocide conviction in Europe by an international tribunal; and

·         in the prosecutions of Momcilo Krajisnik and Biljana Plavsic (Prosecutor v. Krajisnik ; Prosecutor v. Plavsic) who were members of the Bosnian Serb Presidency.  They were convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

  1. Acting as a Senior Legal Advisor and Senior Investigator, United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission.  The inquiry focused on the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 14 other cases, including 6 targeted assassinations and attempted assassinations of senior Lebanese politicians and journalists, as well as 8 terrorist bombing attacks which occurred in Beirut, Lebanon (2006-2007).

 Ms. Karagiannakis has presented seminars and papers at international conferences and at institutions including: the University of California at Berkeley, the Australian National University, the International Institute of Humanitarian Law at San Remo, Italy and at United Nations institutions.

 She has also been a training material developer and international trainer in the areas of international criminal law and human rights.  In this context she has participated in the international training (including training of trainers) of senior law enforcement personnel (Judges, Prosecutors, Police and Prison Officials).

 

 

Teaching Units

  • International Criminal Law (Postgraduate/Masters level)
  • Criminal Law
  • International Comercial Arbitration Moot
  • Civil Procedure

Recent Publications

“International Criminal Law Training Materials for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia”.  Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) International Criminal Law Services (ICLS) Foundation (2009) “Expert Legal Panel Report on Corporate Complicity in International Crimes: Corporate Complicity and Legal Accountability, Vol.2: Criminal Law and International Crimes. International Commission of Jurists, 16 September 2008. pp. 1-59. “Article 50: official and working languages” of the International Criminal Court with David Tolbert, in O. Triffterer et al. Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Observer's Notes, Article by Article, 2dn Edition (2008) pp.1025-1031. “Article 49: salaries, allowances and expenses” of the International Criminal Court with David Tolbert, in O. Triffterer et al. Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Observer's Notes, Article by Article, 2dn Edition (2008) pp. 1021-1024. “International Criminal Law Training Materials for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia”.  Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) International Criminal Law Services (ICLS) Foundation (2006) pp.1-301. “Mental State Defences Before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia” with Ian Freckelton, 12 Psychiatry, Psychology, & Law 2005, pp. 249-255. “The disclosure of exculpatory material by the Prosecution to the Defence under Rule 68 of the ICTY Rules” with Mark B. Harmon in R. May et al., Essays on ICTY Procedure and Evidence in Honour of President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald (2000), 315-328. “The definition of rape and its characterisation as an act genocide - a review of the current state of the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia” 12 Leiden Journal of International Law 1999. “State Immunity and Fundamental Human Rights” 11 Leiden Journal of International Law 1998.