Swiss jurist named new UN legal counsel

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed a legal adviser and scholar from Switzerland as the new head of the United Nations legal office.

Nicolas Michel had been named Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and UN Legal Counsel. Mr. Michel, a legal adviser with the Swiss Foreign Ministry, replaces Hans Corell of Sweden, who retired earlier this year from the post after 10 years of service with the UN.

Mr. Michel is currently Chairman of the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law of the Council of Europe. From 1998 to 2003 was the Director of the International Law Directorate in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Prior to joining the Foreign Ministry in 1998, he spent nearly 10 years as a Professor of International Law and European Law at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.