The University of Reading has been selected from among British Universities to deliver advanced law of armed conflict training for officers of the British Army Legal Service (ALS). Offered over two weeks in February at Reading’s Greenlands Campus, the program will be delivered by Professors Mike Schmitt and Mako Milanovic, as well as Drs. Alison Bisset and Alex Gilder, a team that Major General Alex Taylor, the Director of ALS, has labeled “amazing”.

The program, which will be operationally focused, addresses peacekeeping, U.N. Charter law governing the use of force, the initiation and termination of armed conflict under international law, targeting law, human rights during periods of conflict, war crimes, and cyber operations. The course concludes with an exercise developed in collaboration with the US Military Academy at West Point’s Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare. Lectures by the faculty on their individual research complement the program’s curriculum. Since all the participants are serving legal advisers with broad practical experience, they will bring their own operationally-grounded perspectives to the program.

Prof Schmitt emphasized that the competitive selection of Reading Law School to deliver the program acknowledges its emergence as a globally influential venue for critical thinking on the law governing armed and other forms of conflict. It complements the work of “Global Law at Reading” in advancing Reading’s contribution to the understanding and development of international law.