The Office

A few words about my office:

I'm working for the defense team, which is currently composed of seven people: a woman from France and I are the "stagieres" (interns); there are two "assistants" from Québec; a case manager from Belgium; and finally two "counsels" (lead attorneys) from France. Plus, they may hire one more person from the DRC and of course the client is also from the DRC. Thus, French is spoken in four unique accents; five if you count Paris.

The ICC is located 2km south of the center of The Hague, in an area called Voorburg. It's in a large, retrofitted building that once housed the headquarters of the national phone company. It's nice to be in the ICC's building because I have had the opportunity to meet people -- especially interns -- from all of the different units, such as those working in the Office of the Prosecutor, in judges' chambers, for the registry (a civil law thing - like trial administration), plus those working for the ICC as an institution (HR, IT, facilities, etc.).


There's a lovely cafeteria which is a good place to bump into everybody. The defense team eats together each day. They (we) linger for a while after lunch and then have an espresso. As you know, I'm pretty talkative (an understatement), but the French is all a bit intimidating, so I'm mostly silent. I listen; I people watch.