Bruce C. Rashkow
Bruce C. Rashkow
Mr. Rashkow worked in the government as a career civil servant since 1970, except for the period between 1995 and 2005 during which he was with the United Nations. He retired at the end of 2011. Following his retirement Mr. Rashkow became an expert consultant on international law and UN law and practice.
After spending some 12 years with the Department of Justice, in 1982, he transferred to the Office of the Legal Adviser of the Department of State. In 1995, Mr. Rashkow joined the UN, as the highest ranking American in the UN Office of Le-gal Affairs. He served with the UN for ten years before reaching mandatory UN retirement. He returned to the Department of State in 2005, first as a Senior Policy Adviser in the US Mission to the United Nations and later as head of the Mission’s Management and Reform Section, before retiring. Following his retirement, Mr. Rashkow was a Lecturer at Columbia Law School teaching a course on United Nations Law and Practice.
At the Department of Justice, Mr. Rashkow headed a special office responsible for a wide range of issues relating to the adjacent seas and seabed. Those responsibilities included litigation with the US coastal states, including in the Supreme Court, and legislation relating to the use and regulation of the coastal zone and the adjacent seas and seabed, including exploitation of offshore fisheries and petroleum resources. Mr. Rashkow participated on behalf of the Department of Justice in the development of the 1982 UN Law of the Sea Convention.
In 1982, he was brought over to the Office of the Legal Adviser in the Department of State to head an office preparing the case of the United States in the World Court with Canada over rights in the adjacent seas and seabed, and stayed on afterwards to deal with other matters. Mr. Rashkow became the principal lawyer in the office responsible for issues relating to the diplomatic privileges and immunities of foreign missions and diplomats in the United States, including in regard to the United Nations and other international organizations headquartered in the United States, as well as US missions and diplomats abroad. Subsequently, Mr. Rashkow became the principal lawyer in the office responsible for the full range of issues relating to the UN, including the Security Council and the General Assembly, as well as issues relating generally to other international organizations.
At the United Nations, Mr. Rashkow served as the Director of the General Legal Division providing the full range of in-house legal counsel advice to the Secretary General and other officials throughout the Organization in respect to financial, personnel, procurement, and other management, administrative and operational issues.
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