A strategist, international lawyer and writer, James Cockayne is the Head of Office at the United Nations for the United Nations University, a global think tank created by the UN General Assembly in 1972. He has served as Principal Legal Officer in the Transnational Crime Unit of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, worked in war crimes trials in Africa and served with thinktanks in New York.

He spent two years as Co-Director of the non-profit Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, leading their work in New York and Africa. James has been a member of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of International Criminal Justice for almost a decade, serving as Chair for several years. He has been a visiting lecturer at Columbia University, a consultant to the World Bank, UN DPKO, Center on Humanitarian Dialogue, Norwegian Peacebuilidng Forum and Global Leadership Forum.

In 2011 James was invited to address the UN Human Rights Council on the regulation of private security companies, and helped to establish the International Code of Conduct Association that monitors human rights performance of private security companies. His books include Peace Operations and Organized Crime: Enemies or Allies? (Routledge, 2011), edited with Adam Lupel; and Beyond Market Forces: Regulating the Global Security Industry (IPI, 2009).