The Emotional Labour of International Criminal Lawyers

Emotional labour — the management of feelings for the purpose of creating an institutionally acceptable public display — has received growing attention in legal scholarship. Although the role of emotion has been increasingly acknowledged in relation to lawyers well-being, emotional labour itself remains under-theorized as a constitutive element of professionalism, particularly in an international context. This article contributes to the development of this emerging field by examining emotional labour within the practice of international criminal law (ICL). Drawing upon original interviews, an analysis of professional codes of conduct, and the normative expectations embedded in legal roles, we demonstrate that emotional labour is both pervasive and institutionally unacknowledged in ICL. We explore how it is performed across different roles and sites, and how its uneven recognition affects practitioners, stakeholders and institutions. By foregrounding emotional labour as a professional competency — rather than framing it solely in terms of well-being — this study advances a broader understanding of legal professionalism, offering insights relevant to complex and challenging legal settings and other ‘extreme work’ environments.