Antonio Cassese studied at “Scuola Normale Superiore” and obtained his degree in Law at the University of Pisa in 1958. He studied International Law under the guidance of Giuseppe Sperduti with whom he also had his first experiences in the field of human rights. He represented the Italian Government at the Commission on Human Rights, at the General Assembly at the United Nations (UN) and at the Geneva Diplomatic Conference on the Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflicts in the 1970’s.
He was member and chairman of the Council of Europe Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) (1984-1988) and he was president of the Council of Europe's “European Commitee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment” (CPT) (1989-1993).
He became a full Professor in 1972 and taught International Law at University of Pisa (1972-1975), at the University of Florence and at the European University Institute (1987-1993). In 2001 he was appointed to the "Blaise Pascal Chair", a position he held for one year. He also held courses and conferences in European and American Universities (Collège de France, Harvard University School of Law, Cambridge USA, London School of Economics etc.).
Cassese was an expert in international criminal law and worked in several international courts. He served as judge and president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) (1993-2000), chairman for the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (2004-2005), and was subsequently nominated by the Secretary-General of the UN Independent Expert for the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) in 2006. More recently, since 2009, he has served as judge and President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).
He was co-founder and co-editor of the European Journal of International Law and founder and editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Criminal Justice.