Philippe Kirsch, OC, QC is a Canadian lawyer who served as a judge of the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2009 and was the Court's first president. Kirsch was born in Belgium in 1947 and arrived in Canada in 1961. Kirsch holds a Bachelor of Civil Law and an LL.M. degree from the Universit� de Montr�al. Kirsch is member of the Bar of the Province of Quebec and of the Canadian Council on International Law and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1988. He has extensive experience in the process of the establishment of the International Criminal Court, international humanitarian law and international criminal law. In 1998 Kirsch served as Chairman of the Committee of the Whole of the Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court. He was also Chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court. 

April 1st, 1947 in Namur (Age 77)