Max du Plessis is an associate professor of law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a senior research associate at the International Crimes in Africa Programme at the Institute for Security Studies.
In addition to his academic and research work, Max is practising barrister in South Africa with an expertise in international and constitutional law. He has appeared in numerous cases in the South African Constitutional Court, is representing Professor Kenneth Good (who was expelled from Botswana for criticizing the President) before the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, and has represented NGOs in South Africa in utilizing South Africa’s Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act in pursuing cases against individuals accused of international crimes in Zimbabwe and Gaza. Most recently he successfully represented the applicants in a High Court review of the South African Prosecuting and Police officials’ failure to investigate torture as a crime against humanity in Zimbabwe, a case brought under South Africa’s ICC implementation legislation.
He has written widely in the field of international and international criminal law and spent a month in the International Criminal Court in 2007 as a visiting expert. He holds the degrees: B.Iuris (University of South Africa), LL.B (University of Natal), LL.M (Cambridge University), PhD (University of KwaZulu-Natal).