Biography
John Balouziyeh is a Partner at the international law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP. Acting for sovereign states, the U.N., corporations and individuals, he specializes in human rights, public international law, foreign investment and international dispute resolution.
John previously served with the United Nations in Iraq as a Human Rights Officer, Legal Officer, International Consultant and Legal Expert. In those roles, he trained Iraqi prosecutors and judges on international criminal law, drafted public reports, prepared case assessments and conducted international criminal law investigations. He also monitored more than 40 war crimes trials before Iraq’s anti-terrorism courts through a joint initiative of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Clooney Foundation for Justice.
He is a Senior Instructor in International Humanitarian Law with the American Red Cross and has served as a Judge Advocate in the U.S. military, holding a range of leadership and litigation roles, including Chief of International Law, Chief of National Security Law, Defense Counsel and Prosecutor (trial counsel). His assignments have included service at the Guantánamo Bay war crimes tribunals, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and postings across the Middle East.
John is the author of Public International Law: Conventions, Cases and Commentary (Kluwer Law International, 2025), which has been acclaimed as a “solidly researched and intensely readable exposition of international law,” as well as more than a dozen other books written in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.
He currently serves as Co-Vice Chair of the IBA Human Rights Law Committee, an Advisory Board Member of the IBA War Crimes Committee and a member of the Crimes Against Humanity Convention Working Group. John is admitted to practice law in New York, Washington, DC, Barcelona and before the International Criminal Court.