The Hague’s International Criminal Court comes knocking for Hobart lawyer Regina Weiss
On the corner of Murray and Macquarie streets sits a grand old sandstone building. Inside it, you’ll find one of Australia’s finest minds in the field of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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On the corner of Murray and Macquarie streets sits a grand old dame of a sandstone building that many would recognise as the site of Hobart’s first gaol.
But it’s also the place where, most days, you’ll find one of Australia’s finest legal minds in the field of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
For almost a decade, Hobart lawyer Regina Weiss worked as a prosecutor at The Hague’s International Criminal Court, working on cases like that of William Ruto, the-now Kenyan president who was accused of, but denied, organising post-election violence in 2017 that resulted in the slaughter of more than 1300 people.
But Ms Weiss said working on prosecuting people from “the highest echelons” was no mean feat – and that bringing heads of state to justice was incredibly tricky, even for one of the world’s highest courts.
“People were getting burnt in churches, pretty horrific stuff,” she said of the Ruto case.
“We got it to trial but we lost it at the ‘no case to answer’ stage, with witnesses being interfered with, some of them ended up dead in ditches in Kenya.
“This was a mistrial because of intolerable interference with witnesses.”
Ms Weiss moved back home to Tasmania to raise her two boys – “I want them climbing trees” – and has since been plunged into some of Australia’s most grave cases – including the historic institutional sexual abuse of jockeys and gymnasts.
“I never thought I’d be using the skills I picked up in post-conflict zones right here in Tasmania, but there you go,” she said.
But while Tasmania has the good fortune of Ms Weiss’ return home with her international experience, it didn’t take The Hague long to come knocking once more.
Last week, Ms Weiss discovered she’d again been appointed to the International Criminal Court bar association, this time with a focal point on sexual and gender-based violence.
Astonishingly, Ms Weiss isn’t the only University of Tasmania alumni working for The Hague.
Her close friend, eminent Hobart academic and globally-recognised scholar Tim McCormack, is a special adviser to the Prosecutor on war crimes at The Hague and a colleague of Amal Clooney, wife of the Hollywood actor George Clooney.
Meanwhile, fellow Tasmanian Alice Edwards is the first woman ever appointed as a United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture.
Ms Weiss says she will travel to The Hague yearly, but will do much of her work from her office – the Derwent and Tamar Chambers on the corner of Macquarie Street.
“Honestly, it’s just really nice to be home,” she said.
“I’ve got young boys, they’re six and eight, and I want them climbing trees.”
Ms Weiss began her career as an associate for the now Supreme Court Chief Justice Alan Blow – who has remained a lifelong friend and mentor.
“What I love about him is he’s such an advocate for women in the law and he’s always been an absolute rock for me,” she said.
“Between him and Tim McCormack, I really got lucky in people that believe in me and in having great mentors.”
Ms Weiss said she’s worked both in prosecutions and in defence – keeping her mind sharp and able to see both sides of an argument.
“That’s something (Chief Justice) Alan said to me in the beginning. A great piece of advice he gave to me was ‘make sure you see it from all sides of the bar table’,” she said.
“It’s a little gold nugget from Alan to keep in the back of my mind.”
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