The Karadzic team of lawyers is led by the American Peter Robinson, the Dutchman Mark Sladojevic and the Serb Goran Petronijevic. Robinson is coordinating procedure, Petronijevic heads up the legal advisers and Sladojevic acts as a sort of private secretary responsible for day-to-day business. He speaks to Karadzic three times a day, either by telephone or in the prison in Scheveningen. This Dutch lawyer of Serb origin was also part of the legal team of the Serb president Slobodan Milosevic and Momcilo Krajisnik, a confidante of Radovan Karadzic.

Karadzic also has three case managers and two researchers at his disposal, paid for by the UN court. They receive 25 euros per hour. And he can call on around forty professors, (former) politicians, researchers and lawyers who work for him unpaid. These volunteers come from the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Canada, the US, New Zealand and Australia. Some of the lawyers have already worked for the Yugoslavia Tribunal, like Alexander Zahar (Griffith University, Australia) and Gideon Boas (Monash University, Australia). Professor Andreas O'Shea also worked at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and the Rwanda Tribunal.

Lawyer Kevin Jon Heller (University of Auckland, New Zealand) lost friends because he advises Karadzic, he writes on his legal blog (opiniojuris.org). In defence Heller writes that the trials of the Serb president Slobodan Milosevic and the ultra-nationalistic Serb Vojislav Seslj were a fiasco. The legacy of the Yugoslavia Tribunal will be decided by the Karadzic trial, according to Heller. Whatever the sentence, the trial must be conducted transparently and honestly. This is why he joined the team of legal advisers.

In the Netherlands, professor Elies van Sliedregt (Free University, Amsterdam) advised Karadzic's defence on the scope and content of individual liability in international law - the subject in which she graduated. It was, she says, a 'one-off consultation'. Not least because her friend, the British Howard Morisson, is one of the judges in the Karadzic trial.

Professor Göran Sluiter (Amsterdam University) also advises Karadzic. "You must be open when someone calls on your specialised knowledge. Scholars must share their knowledge with society and Karadzic is part of society," says Sluiter who has also advised prosecutors at the UN court in the past. He thinks a strong defence is crucial for the development and quality of international trials.Sluiter: "In fact my contribution to Karadzic's defence is aimed at an improvement in international law."

Ramsey Clark, former US justice minister, and top French lawyer Jacques Vergès, are also advising Karadzic. Clark and Vergès were also part of the team of advisers for Slobodan Milosevic, who also conducted his own defence in court.