Dr. Robert Heinsch
Visiting Leiden Professor
Bio
Prior to joining UC Law SF as a Visiting Professor, Dr. Robert Heinsch has worked as an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden Law School in The Netherlands since March 2009. In 2011, he was appointed Director of the Kalshoven-Gieskes Forum on International Humanitarian Law at Leiden University. During his tenure, he founded the Leiden International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Clinic and acted as its Director until September 2024. From April 2018 to February 2019, he held the DAAD Guest Chair for International Humanitarian Law, International Criminal Law and Applied Legal Theory at the Institute of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) of Bochum University in Germany. During his time at the IFHV he successfully created the Bochum IHL Clinic.
Between 2012 and 2017, he served as Rapporteur of the International Law Association’s study group on the “The Conduct of Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law – Challenges from 21st Century Warfare”. In addition, he is member of the German National IHL Committee and held the position of Federal Dissemination Officer for International Humanitarian Law of the German Red Cross from 2011 to 2014. Previously, he worked as a Legal Advisor in the International Humanitarian Law Department of the Red Cross Headquarters in Berlin, and as an Associate Legal Officer in the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Moreover, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Chair for International Law and European Law, Cologne University, and a Visiting Lecturer at Bochum University, respectively.
Dr. Robert Heinsch has published various articles in the field of international criminal law and international humanitarian law, including a monograph on the jurisprudence of the Yugoslavia and Rwanda War Crimes Tribunals and its impact on the development of IHL. He also gives regularly presentations and lectures in these fields. He is associated with the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) at Bochum University; Member of the Editorial Board of the German Journal of Peace and Armed Conflict (JILPAC); Member of the German Working Group for International Criminal Law; Member of the International Law Association (ILA); and Advisor of the International Criminal Court Case Matrix Network (CMN).
Dr. Heinsch holds a Dr. jur. (Ph.D. in Law) Degree from the University of Cologne, Germany, an LL.M. Degree in Public International Law from University College London, United Kingdom, and the First and Second German Legal State Examination which qualifies him for all judicial posts in his home country.