Legal Advisor to the Baltic Defence College

Biography

Mr. Olavi Jänes is serving as a Legal Advisor to the Baltic Defence College (BALTDEFCOL). In addition to his core tasks he delivers education to BALTDEFCOL courses related to legal issues relevant for planning and conducting military operations. He also contributes as a mentor and/or a legal advisor in in-house and external staff exercises.

Mr. Jänes is a graduate of University of Tartu, and has aquired LL.M. in European and International Law from Riga Graduate School of Law. He has extensive teaching experience from Tallinn Law School and he has supervised a number of M.A. and B.A. dissertations in a variety of legal subjects.

Prior to coming to the Baltic Defence College, Mr. Jänes led the civil law branch of a Tallinn law firm and before that he was an advisor to the Legal Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament. He has advised the Estonian Ministry of Defence on the effective implementation of status of forces agreements and edited the related information booklet, and participated as an expert in the review process of Estonian defence-related legislation.

Areas of Expertise

• Public International Law, particularly Law of Armed Conflict
• Private International Law
• Estonian Private Law
• Legislative drafting

Professional Experience

Mr. Jänes' professional experience in the field relevant for BALTDEFCOL includes, in additon to what has been mentioned above, participation in a number of multinational staff exercises as a legal advisor on operational level, conference presentations, and development and delivery of teaching modules for BALTDEFCOL courses. For a number of years he has contributed as an evaluator to the International Criminal Court’s annual Moot Court Competition.

Mr. Jänes pays attention to his own and others’ professional development. He has initiated invitation of Baltic states’ legal professionals engaged in the field of security and defence to BALTDEFCOL courses to offer professional development in operational law, networking opportunity and wider legal support to BALTDEFCOL’s exercises. This initiative has been well received.

Languages

Estonian, English, and Russian