This won’t be for everyone but probably well worth bookmarking….
The ICC write:
What are the ICC Legal Tools?
http://www.legal-tools.org/en/what-are-the-icc-legal-tools/
The Legal Tools have been developed at the Office of the Prosecutor. They equip users with legal information, commentaries and an application to work more effectively with core international crimes cases (involving war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide). The Tools serve as an electronic library on international criminal law and justice. They comprise at present over 40,000 documents in several databases (the "Legal Tools Database"), together with four legal research and reference tools developed by lawyers with expertise in international criminal law and justice: the Case Matrix, the Elements Commentary, the Proceedings Commentary and the Means of Proof Document. Text in these tools or in the Legal Tools Database does not necessarily represent views of the ICC, any of its Organs or any participant in proceedings before the ICC or any of the ICC States Parties.
The ICC provides the general public with free access to the Legal Tools Database of basic legal information in international criminal law through this website (the "Legal Tools Website"). In so doing, the Legal Tools Project represents a significant effort to disseminate legal information in the Court’s area of work. Additionally, criminal jurisdictions, counsel and NGOs that work on core international crimes cases may seek to have access to the Case Matrix – which encompasses the Elements Commentary, the Means of Proof Document and key documents from the Legal Tools Database – by sending an e-mail message with a short statement on the nature of the need to [email protected]. This represents an important knowledge transfer platform for jurisdictions outside the ICC, through which legal information pertaining to core international crimes – much of it generated by international criminal jurisdictions – is made available to those who need it, in a practical and cost-effective manner.
The Legal Tools have been developed by the Legal Advisory Section (LAS) of the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC since 2003, under the direction of Morten Bergsmo, who conceived and supervised the Project and its different components as LAS Chief during the time period 2003-05. The Legal Tools were initially created to assist the ICC-OTP with legal research and drafting regarding the elements of crimes, modes of criminal liability and key procedural and evidentiary questions. In 2005, the ICC Prosecutor decided to share with the entire Court and, to the extent feasible, with the general public, the services comprising the Legal Tools. As a result, the Court-wide Legal Tools Advisory Committee was established.
The LAS has drawn on more than ten years of experience from the practice of international criminal justice in the development of the Legal Tools, aiming to base the Tools on a sound understanding of the work processes in core international crimes cases. The LAS has also studied relevant work processes in several large national serious fraud agencies for the same purposes.
The Legal Tools Project was developed with limited human resources and costs thanks to the active assistance of project-based staff and Law Clerks who worked in LAS as part of the EU-funded ICC Clerkship Programme. Other Organs of the Court have also contributed to the Project.
The ICC draws on the support of outside partners for the development and maintenance of the Legal Tools. The purpose of this outsourcing is to create a broad, stable and long-term capacity to collect relevant documents, register metadata for each document, and upload the documents onto the Legal Tools Database, with a view to ensuring that the quality of its services will be as high as possible. There is more information about the partners in the sections "Overview of the Tools" and "Work on the Tools". With the assistance of these partners, the Court expects to stimulate further contributions and engage new partners to expand and improve the Legal Tools.
