He was appointed an Attorney-Adviser in the Office of the Assistant Legal Adviser for Law Enforcement and Intelligence Affairs (L/LEI).
[18] He acted as the legal counsel to the Office for Combatting Terrorism,[19] coordinated the Department of State position on reform of the U.S. federal criminal code, negotiated international extradition treaties, in particular with Switzerland, where he was Head of Delegation, Italy and Jamaica, and supervised extradition cases.
After service at the State Department, Busuttil joined Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle in their New York City office, first on Wall Street and later on Park Avenue.
He assisted in the preparation of the Memorial[20] in the Continental Shelf (Tunisia/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) Case[13] and worked on the Amoco Cadiz litigation.
After over two years of private law practice in Manhattan, Busuttil returned in 1986 to public service as Special Assistant to the General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
[22] With colleagues from Shearman & Sterling, Busuttil was a founder of Porter & Travers, a boutique law firm specializing in representing banks as lenders.
He represented banks and financial institutions based in the United States and other countries, such as Citibank and Rabobank, in private sector financing of domestic and international projects.
In 1990, Busuttil matriculated at Linacre College of the University of Oxford, to study for a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in public international law.
His DPhil thesis, "Naval Weapons Systems and the Contemporary Law of War: Selected Topics”, was awarded the 1996 Dasturzada Dr. Jal Pavry Memorial Prize for best Doctoral or Master’s thesis in Law, Modern History or Social Studies on a subject in the area of international peace and understanding.
This book was cited by the United States in its submission[28][29] to the International Court of Justice in the Oil Platforms case.
While working on his DPhil, Busuttil wrote the first analysis in English of the Islamic approach to the laws of war, using the Sharia as his primary source material.
[30] From Oxford, Busuttil joined the Human Rights Centre[31] of the Department of Law of the University of Essex in 1992.
[32] Busuttil was Faculty Adviser to the World Championship Team in the Concours Jean Pictet du Droit Humanitaire[33] in 1993.
Busuttil was appointed Associate Professor of International Law and Organization at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague in 1998.
[38] While at the I.S.S., he wrote the first article on the legal regulation of cyberwar[39] and an article on how to effectively respond to religious fundamentalism,[40] and edited two books, Bridge or Barrier: Religion, Violence and Visions for Peace[41] and The Freedom to Do God's Will: Religious Fundamentalism and Social Change.
He headed the Legal Reference Project in the Office of the Prosecutor[43] (OTP) of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
He coordinated, directed and edited an analysis of the entire case law of the ICTY (over 5,000 decisions to that date).
For more than ten years starting in 2004, Busuttil was Director[44] of the University of London Postgraduate Laws Program.
Busuttil provided academic direction and leadership (including the recruitment of course study guide authors and the creation of appropriate quality assurance mechanisms), took strategic decisions in relation to the delivery of this postgraduate Program, developed marketing strategies and coordinated 60 courses and 3,000 students in more than 150 countries.
During this time, Busuttil was appointed an Honorary Professor at the Faculty of Laws of University College London (UCL).
These include: Aerkomm Inc.,[50] a technology company providing full-service, development-stage in-flight entertainment and connectivity solutions, with subsidiaries in California, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Japan, Malta and Seychelles,[51] headquartered in Fremont, California, appointed Busuttil as a Director in December 2017.
The silver medal and cash prize is awarded for the publication of a book in English on human rights, preferably by someone within the first ten years of the recipient's academic career.
Busuttil was Rapporteur of the first and only officially sanctioned human rights mission to the Soviet Union, sponsored by Helsinki Watch in January and February 1989.
[68] Busuttil was part of team sent by the Committee on International Human Rights of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY) to Uganda in 1990, which investigated the rule of law in that country.
[73] The blazon is: Arms: Gules a Sword in pale Argent hilt and pommel Or and a Chain rompu in fess throughout also Or Crest: Upon a Helm with a Wreath Argent and Gules Within a Circlet comprising Chevrons conjoined three being manifest the point of each conjoined to a Cross Azure a demi Afghan Hound Or supporting between the forepaws a Pilgrim’s Staff palewise Gules Mantled Gules lined Argent Device or Badge: A Beehive Or within a Circlet of Bees volant outwards Azure Busuttil has a son, Daniel Busuttil, who is a software engineer in Montreal, Canada, and a daughter.