Darryl Robinson was a Hauser Scholar at New York University School of Law (LLM International Legal Studies), where he received the Jerome Lipper Award for outstanding achievement in international law. Prior to that, he was the Gold Medalist at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law, where he was a President's National Scholar.
He articled at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt in Toronto and clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for Justice John Major.
He served as a Legal Officer at Foreign Affairs Canada from 1997-2004, providing legal advice and engaging in international negotiations concerning international human rights, humanitarian and criminal law. His work in the creation of the International Criminal Court and in the development of Canada's new war crimes legislation earned him a Minister's Citation and a Minister's Award for Foreign Policy Excellence.
He joined the International Criminal Court as an adviser to the Chief Prosecutor, from 2004 to 2006. He developed policies, provided legal advice, drafted submissions, and negotiated cooperation agreements with the UN, Interpol and others.
From 2006 to 2008, he was a Fellow, Adjunct Professor and Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He was involved in an intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada in the Omar Khadr case as well as bringing a case to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of a community of Roma who were expelled from their homes.
He joined Queen's University Faculty of Law in July 2008. In 2013, he received the Antonio Cassese Prize for International Criminal Studies for his innovative contributions to the field.
Research:
- International criminal justice
Recent Professional Achievements:
- SSHRC Insight Grant on ecocide (2022-)
- Fernand Braudel Senior Fellow, European University Institute (2022)
- Member of Promise Institute for Human Rights working group on ecocide (2021)
- SSHRC Partnership Grant on strengthening international criminal justice (2016-2021)
- SSHRC Insight Development grant on the theory of crimes against humanity (2016-2020)
- Foundation for Legal Research grant on the scope of contemporary crimes against humanity
- Antonio Cassese Prize for International Criminal Law Studies (2013-15)
- Instructor on International Law at Foreign Affairs Canada (2012-)
- SSHRC Insight Development Grant on fundamental principles of justice in international criminal law (2012-2015)
- SSHRC research grant, with three other Canadian law professors, to observe and assess the ICC Review Conference negotiations in Uganda (2010-2013)
Recent Publications:
Books
- Justice in Extreme Cases: International Criminal Law Meets Criminal Law Theory (Cambridge University Press, 2020)
- An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, 4th Edition (Cambridge University Press, 2019) (with Robert Cryer and Sergey Vasiliev)
- Oxford Handbook on International Criminal Law (co-editors, with Kevin Jon Heller, Frédéric Mégret, Sarah Nouwen and Jens David Ohlin)
Articles
- "Ecocide - Puzzles and Possibilities", 20 Journal of International Criminal Justice (2022)
- "Culpability in Extreme Cases", Temple Journal of International and Comparative Law (2021)
- "A Justification of Command Responsibility", Criminal Law Forum (2017)
- “The Tribunals and the Renaissance of International Criminal Law: Three Themes” (with Gillian MacNeil), 110 American Journal of International Law (2016)
- “Inescapable Dyads: Why the ICC Cannot Win”, 28 Leiden Journal of International Law (2015) 323
- “International Criminal Law as Justice”, 11 Journal of International Criminal Justice (2013) 699
- “A Cosmopolitan Liberal Account of International Criminal Law”, 26 Leiden Journal of International Law (2013) 127
- “How Command Responsibility Got So Complicated: A Culpability Contradiction, Its Obfuscation, and a Simple Solution” 13Melbourne Journal of International Law (2012)
- “Three Theories of Complementarity: Charge, Sentence or Process?” 53 Harvard International Law Journal Online (2012) 165
- “The Controversy over Territorial State Referrals and Some Reflections on ICL Discourse”, 9 Journal of International Criminal Justice (2011) 355-384
Book Chapters
- "Article 30 - The Mental Element" in Kai Ambos, ed, The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 3rd Edition (Beck, 2021)(with Donald Piragoff)
- “Crimes Against Humanity: A Better Policy on ‘Policy’” in Carsten Stahn, ed, The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court (Oxford University Press 2014)
Legal Submissions
- Amicus Curiae Observations of Professors Robinson, Cryer, deGuzman, Lafontaine, Oosterveld, and Stahn on Immunity of President Al Bashir (International Criminal Court Appeals Chamber, 2018)
- Amicus Curiae Submissions of Professors Robinson, de Guzman, Jalloh and Cryer on Crimes Against Humanity (Cases 003 and 004) (Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, 2016)
- Amicus Curiae Observations of Professors Robinson, deGuzman, Jalloh and Cryer (International Criminal Court Appeals Chamber, 2013)