Another high-profile name has joined the defense team of former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he is currently detained and facing charges of crimes against humanity.
In a document released by the ICC dated April 7, 2025, it was confirmed that lawyer Dov Jacobs has been appointed as Associate Counsel in Duterte’s defense.
According to the document, Duterte’s lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman submitted a request for Jacobs’ appointment on April 2. The ICC Registry approved the request the next day following Jacobs’ acceptance.
While Jacobs may be a new name to many Filipinos, he is a prominent figure in international law circles – bringing with him over 15 years of experience in international criminal law, human rights, and public international law.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Jacobs has worked as a defense trial lawyer at the ICC for more than 13 years.
Currently, he is serving on the legal teams defending Laurent Gbagbo and Mahamat Said, who were also facing charges on crimes against humanity at the Hague.
Jacobs is also part of the ongoing proceedings in the Felicien Kabuga case before the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT).
His expertise has also been tapped as Amicus Curiae, or “the friend of a court,” who provides opinion in the ICC’s deliberations concerning the Afghanistan and Palestine situations.
Jacobs is also an academic. He is an Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University, a guest lecturer at institutions such as Sciences Po and Universite de Lille, and has published extensively in the field.
Beyond academia and courtroom battles, Jacobs is known in legal circles for his blog, “Spreading the Jam,” where he shares commentary on international criminal law issues.
Before joining the ICC, Jacobs was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam and a founding member of the SHARES Project on shared responsibility in international law.
Prior to his active involvement at the ICC, Jacobs held a postdoctoral research position at the University of Amsterdam, where he contributed to the SHARES Project – an initiative focused on the concept of shared responsibility in international law.
His academic journey includes law degrees from King’s College London, Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne, and Paris II Pantheon-Assas, as well as a political science degree from Sciences Po Paris.
Jacobs later completed his PhD at the European University Institute in Florence, with research centered on hybrid tribunals and the broader framework of international criminal law.