Judge Kirsch was elected President of the International Criminal Court for a six-year period from the Western European and others Group of States (WEOG); he is assigned to the Appeals Division.

He 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 Judge 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 (1999 to 2002). He served as Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the International Conference on the Protection of War Victims (1993), Chairman of the preparatory and subsequent Intergovernmental Working Groups of Government Experts on the Protection of War Victims (1993, 1995), and Chairman of the Drafting Committee at the 26^th and 27^th International Conferences of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent (1995, 1999). He was Chairman of the Canadian National Committee on Humanitarian Law (1998 – 1999) and member of the Group of International Advisers to the International Committee of the Red Cross (2000 – 2003).

He has extensive experience in the development of international criminal law with regard to issues such as various acts of terrorism; suppression of unlawful acts against the safety of maritime navigation; unlawful acts of violence at airports serving international civil aviation; safety and security of UN and associated personnel; and the taking of hostages. He has written extensively on the International Criminal Court and other international legal issues.