James L. Bischoff is the Assistant Legal Adviser for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State (L), where he oversees the provision of legal advice on matters arising in the course of U.S. relations with the countries of the Americas. He previously served as Legal Adviser at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, representing U.S. legal interests before various U.N. bodies, including the Human Rights Council, U.N. human rights treaty bodies, international criminal law investigatory mechanisms, and other entities. He has served in various other positions as an attorney-adviser in L since 2008, advising on matters ranging from the U.S.-Cuba legal relationship to consular notification to international parental child abduction, and has represented the United States in international fora such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Prior to L, Professor Bischoff served as a law clerk on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (2005-07) and on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (2007-08). He has authored or co-authored a number of academic works, including the three-volume International Criminal Law Practitioner Library (Cambridge 2007, 2008 & 2009) and Accountability for Atrocities in International Law: Beyond the Nuremberg Legacy (3d ed., Oxford 2011). He holds an LL.M. in International Law with honors from Leiden University; a J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law; and an M.A. from the University of Texas Institute of Latin American Studies. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Committee of International Legal Materials and previously served on the editorial boards of other international law journals. Views expressed in the course of his academic work are his alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Government.
