Mike Newton came to Vanderbilt after serving in the Department of Law, United States Military Academy. Professor Newton helped negotiate the Elements of Crimes document for the International Criminal Court as part of the U.S. delegation and coordinated the interface between the FBI and the ICTY while deploying into Kosovo to do the forensics fieldwork buttressing the Milosevic case. Professor Newton served in the Office of War Crimes Issues, U.S. Department of State during both the Clinton and Bush Administrations. As the Senior Advisor to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, he shaped a wide range of policies related to the law of armed conflict, including U.S. support to accountability mechanisms worldwide. He was the U.S. representative on the U.N. Planning Mission for the Sierra Leone Special Court and serves on the Advisory Board of the ABA International Criminal Court Project. He is on the Counsel list of the ICC and has argued before the Appeals Chamber in three trials. After helping establish the Iraqi High Tribunal, he served as the International Law Advisor. He remains active in documenting Da’esh atrocities and assisting Iraqi authorities. He has been active in supporting Ukrainian judges analyzing atrocity crimes committed during the Russian aggression and has helped litigate human rights cases arising from the conflict. He is a highly sought-after speaker on post conflict accountability and conduct of hostilities issues, having published over ninety articles, editorials, and book chapters in journals such as, inter alia, International Review of the Red Cross, Stanford Journal of International Law, Military Law Review, Virginia Journal of International Law. His interdisciplinary work entitled Proportionality in International Law was groundbreaking. He co-authored the award-winning history of the Dujail trial entitled Enemy of the State: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein and was the Senior Editor of the Terrorism International Case Law Reporter from Oxford University Press. He edited the Cambridge book entitled The Department of Defense Law of War Manual: Commentary and Critique. At Vanderbilt, he teaches courses relating to terrorism, international criminal law, and the laws of warfare. He has supported governments, NGOs, international organizations, inter alia UNODC, the Conduct and Disciplinary Unit, the World Bank, the International Bar Association, U.S. Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, and advised the governments of, inter alia, Uganda, Israel, Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Peru. He has been involved with litigation in the ICJ, regional human rights courts, internationalized tribunals, and many domestic accountability efforts. Professor Newton has made dozens of media appearances on, inter alia, CNN, BBC, Fox, Court TV, NPR, Bloomberg, and been widely quoted in print media. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the ABA Center for Human Rights and was an appointed expert advising the Task Force on Genocide Prevention under the auspices of the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Institute of Peace. During his distinguished military career, Professor Newton served as an armor officer after graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and later graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law. He served as the Chief of Operational Law with the U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Airborne), Fort Bragg, supporting Desert Storm and deployed on Operation Provide Comfort as well as many other missions and exercises. He was the Judge Advocate for the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne). He also organized and led the legal training for Multinational Forces and International Police deploying into Haiti. Professor Newton earned his L.LM. from University of Virginia Law School, and a second L.LM. from the Judge Advocate General’s School, where he later served as Professor of International and Operational Law.
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