Elihu Lauterpacht

Early life and education

Lauterpacht was born on 13 July 1928 in Cricklewood, London, to Rachel and Hersch Lauterpacht. As the Second World War broke out, Professor Hersch Lauterpacht was invited by the Carnegie Endowment to take a visiting professorship in the United States, so with the approval and encouragement of the British Foreign Office, the Lauterpracht family left for America in September 1940.

For a year Lauterpacht attended the private Horace Mann School in the Bronx before joining the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After graduating in June 1944 Lauterpacht returned to the United Kingdom.

After returning to England Lauterpacht entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1945, initially reading history, before switching to the law tripos.

Career

In 1950 he was called to the Bar from Gray's Inn. In 1953 he became a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1970 he became a QC. From 1975 to 1977 Lauterpacht served as legal advisor to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs.

Lauterpacht has also been an active academic at Cambridge University, where he was successively Lecturer, Reader and Honorary Professor. In 1983 the Research Centre for International Law was founded by Lauterpacht at Cambridge, and he was its director until 1995. In 1996 the Centre was renamed the Lauterpacht Centre in honour of Sir Elihu and his father, Sir Hersch.

He continued to teach and giving courses at the London School of Economics (in 1995) and the Hague Academy of International Law (1996).

During his time at the Bar, he was a member of 20 Essex Street Barristers' Chambers, before retiring late in 2015.

International Court of Justice

During his career Lauterpacht has appeared before the International Court of Justice in various cases — including:

Honours

Lectures