Birju Kotecha

I read law at the University of Newcastle-Upon Tyne and later completed an MA in Politics at the University of Manchester.  I began my career in teaching and commenced at Northumbria Law School in 2013, first as a graduate tutor, before being promoted to a lecturing post in September 2017.

My research concentrates on international criminal law and my work has been published in leading journals such as the Leiden Journal of International Law and the Journal of International Criminal Justice. In August 2017, my research findings were quoted in a judgment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia—a tribunal established by the United Nations and the Cambodian Government to try crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970’s. In 2022, I co-edited a journal special issue examining how today's 'misinformation age' is shaping international criminal justice.

My teaching experience is in the law of tort, public international law and, more recently, Ethics for Bar students. In the past I have taught Constitutional and Administrative Law.

In 2019 I was awarded a Middle Temple Scholarship and later called to the Bar of England and Wales in the summer of 2021. I am the admissions tutor for the Bar Course, chair the Scholarship committee and act as an External Examiner for Professional Ethics on behalf of the Bar Standards Board.

I hold an interest in the regulation of healthcare professionals. I frequently sit on Fitness to Practice panels, as a Chair for the Nursing and Midwifery Council and as Lay Member for the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service and the Health and Care Professions Council, respectively. I am a School Governor at a High School in North Tyneside.

As of January 2024, I am a also pupil barrister based at Trinity Chambers, Newcastle Upon-Tyne. Further details can be found here.