Alan Kessel

ALAN KESSEL is Legal Adviser with Foreign Affairs andInternational Trade Canada. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Kessel served asDeputy Legal Adviser and Director General of the Bureau of Legal Affairs fromSeptember 2004 to November 2005. Mr. Kessel has held numerous positions in theLegal Bureau of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Tradeincluding that as Director of the United Nations, Criminal and Treaty LawDivision. He was the head of the Canadian Delegation to the United Nationspreparatory committees negotiating the establishment of the InternationalCriminal Court. His postings abroad have included the Canadian Embassy inSweden, the Canadian Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland andmost recently the Canadian High Commission in London, UK. Mr. Kessel receivedhis bachelor’s degree from the University of Waterloo in 1976 and his lawdegree in 1979 from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto. He was called to theBar of Ontario in 1981. After several years in private practice in corporateand commercial law in Toronto, he joined the Canadian Department of ForeignAffairs and International Trade in 1983.