Our Managing Attorney, and His Story

DRAGAN DAN IVETIĆ was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, and wanted to become an attorney to help people from a young age.  He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Northwestern University in 1996 and went on to the University of Illinois College of Law where he received a J.D. degree in 1999, and has been practicing law ever since then.  Dragan is the owner and managing attorney of our law firm, and goes by either Dragan or Dan, as both are his names.  

Dragan is currently licensed and authorized to practice before the Illinois courts all the way up to the Illinois Supreme Court and the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.   Dragan is also authorized to represent clients before the USPTO Trademark Office and the TTAB (Trademark Trial and Appeal Board).  Internationally he is one of a select few American attorneys licensed and authorized to practice before the United Nations ICTY/IRMCT, the International Criminal Court,  and the State Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina. His practice has led him across the United States, Europe, and Africa.  Dragan has been sought and/or retained for international work alongside local counsel in several European countries, as well as Australia and Africa in private legal matters.

"Camp Justice" - US Naval Base, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Belgrade, Serbia

He has handled civil and criminal litigation matters all over the world, including acting as defense counsel in some of the most high-profile international war crimes cases since World War 2.  His most recent such representation, for General Ratko Mladić, was chronicled in the BBC/VPRO/PBS Documentary "The Trial of Ratko Mladić," and is the subject of another pending documentary and countless media articles, interviews and appearances.  An in-depth article was written about him and his work in the largest news magazine in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, "De Groene Amsterdamner." 

In his most recent case before the United Nations, Dragan and the team obtained an acquittal at trial of an African legal investigator accused, charged, and imprisoned for over a year on allegations of contempt and witness tampering. 

Dragan's practice at this law firm continues with the same diligence and zeal in domestic cases as shown for international cases, with a focus on  Trial and Appellate litigation, as well as Transactional work.  Perhaps you have a legal matter important to you, or have a loved one that has such a legal matter.  Sign up for a free consultation and see if your case will be Dragan's next project.

ADC-ICT Office, The Hague

Tuschinski Theater, Amsterdam

In 2019, and again in 2023, in recognition of his superb reputation and standing, Dragan's peers elected him President of the Association of Defence Counsel Practicing before International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT) which is the officially recognized bar of all attorneys practicing before the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (the successor to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, respectively).  At present, Dragan serves on the executive council and is in the midst of his second tenure as the elected president of the organization. Dragan is also a past Vice-President of the ADC-ICT  (simultaneously sitting as a member of the Executive Committee, an elected office he has held on numerous occasions over the past two decades), and he has served previously on the ADC-ICT Membership Committee and the Disciplinary Council as well. 

​Achievements at the ADC-ICT include being granted NGO Observer Status at the Military Commissions by the Pentagon's Guantànamo Bay Convening Authority for members to perform the function of an observer at the Military Commission proceedings.  Dragan himself received clearance and was the second such observer for the ADC-ICT, traveling in November 2019 to the Military Commission at Guantànamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to observe proceedings against the alleged masterminds of the 9/11 attacks against America.

At the International Criminal Court (ICC), Dragan is a member of the officially recognized bar association, the ICCBA, and served as an elected member of the ICCBA Professional Standards Advisory Committee (Two Terms) and the ICCBA Defence Committee (of which he was the elected the Chairperson).  Dragan also previously served one term as an elected member of the Executive Council, the highest governing organ of the ICCBA.  Currently, he is an elected member of the Training Committee (since November 29, 2022).

UN ICTY Courtroom - The Hague

Leiden Univ. Law School, The Hague

Dragan has served as an instructor/lecturer on Oral Advocacy and Trial Practice for the participants of the ADC-ICT & ICLB Mock Trial since 2014, and has presented Advocacy Training lectures for the ADC-ICT on several topics as well as regularly lecturing to visiting University groups and bar associations from around the world. ​

Since 2015 Dragan has been a regular guest lecturer on International Law at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam as part of a course in the Masters in Law program, taught under Professor dr. Kristin Henrard, of the Department of International and EU Law.

In 2022, he co-founded a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, the International Innocence Initiative,  tasked to help persons accused of crimes outside their home countries.  He currently serves on the board of directors of that Charitable Organization, along with several colleagues who are also attorneys.

He is the co-author of a publication for the International Bar Association: 

“Should International Organizations Like the UN be responsible to Individuals within their custody as to Human Rights?” International Bar Association Human Rights Law Committee News, Volume 1, Issue 1, page 33 (September 2017)

Dragan would be happy to take some time to hear about your legal matter to see if he can help you, as he has helped so many others before you.