Who Is the New Lawyer on Duterte’s Legal Team?

The Hague - Dov Jacobs, recently appointed as associate counsel for former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, is best known for his role in representing Laurent Gbagbo, the former president of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), whose case was acquitted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A trial chamber at the ICC acquitted Gbagbo and his co-accused, Charles Blé Goudé, of crimes against humanity related to post-election violence in Côte d’Ivoire in 2010-2011. Though the case concluded with acquittals in 2019, it spanned nearly 10 years, from the arrest warrant to the final ruling in 2021.

Jacobs has also represented Mahamat Said, a former commander of the Séléka rebel group in the Central African Republic, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the CAR Civil War. His trial began in September 2022, where Said pleaded not guilty.

On April 7, 2025, the ICC Registry officially announced Jacobs’ appointment as associate counsel for Duterte.

According to Jacobs’ blog, Spreading The Jam, he is an expert in international criminal law, human rights, and public international law, with over 15 years of experience. He is currently serving as a defense trial lawyer at the ICC.

In addition to his work on the Gbagbo and Said cases at the ICC and the Félicien Kabuga case at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), Jacobs has contributed as an Amicus Curiae in the Afghanistan and Palestine situations at the ICC.

Jacobs also lectures at universities such as Leiden (Netherlands) and Lille (France), and provides training for ICC counsel as part of the ICC Bar Association’s Training Committee. He lives in South Holland, Netherlands, and is originally from Mours, France.

He founded Strategic International Legal Consulting, which offers legal advice and consultancy on international law, human rights, and criminal law, alongside providing training to professionals and organizations.

During Duterte’s initial appearance before the ICC on March 14, Jacobs expressed concerns on LinkedIn, questioning whether Duterte’s rights were respected under Article 59 of the Rome Statute, given his lack of presentation before a domestic judge prior to his ICC surrender. He further criticized the ICC’s monitoring of domestic conduct and its jurisdiction regarding the war on drugs investigation, especially after the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019.

Jacobs has advanced degrees in law from King’s College London, Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris II Panthéon-Assas, and a political science degree from Sciences Po Paris. He completed his PhD at the European University Institute in Florence. His academic work includes research on hybrid tribunals and international criminal justice.

He has published several articles, including “A Samson at the International Criminal Court: The Powers of the Prosecutor at the Pre-Trial Phase” (2007), “Positivism and International Criminal Law: The Principle of Legality as a Rule of Conflict of Theories” (2012), and “The Frog That Wanted to Be an Ox: The ICC’s Approach to Immunities and Cooperation” (2015)