Sir Frank Berman

Visiting Professor in International Law

Frank Berman QC joined the Faculty in 2000 as Visiting Professor in International Law on his retirement from the post of Legal Adviser to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

During a full career in the Diplomatic Service, he served in Berlin, Bonn and at the UN in New York, conducted cases before the International Court of Justice and arbitral tribunals and took part in numerous international negotiations, culminating in leading the British Delegation to the International Conference that drew up the Statute of the International Criminal Court.

He came to Oxford to read law as a Rhodes Scholar and is an Hon. Fellow (now Fellow) of Wadham. He practises at the Bar in public international law and international arbitration. He is a member of numerous committees in the legal field, including the Advisory Councils of the Institute for European & Comparative Law and of the Oxford University Law Foundation, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the British Year Book of International Law.

His research interests lie principally in the law of treaties, the use of force, settlement of disputes, international humanitarian law and the law of international organizations. He is preparing a Second Edition of Lord McNair's classic work on The Law of Treaties, and chairs the International Law Association's Committee on the Accountability of International Organizations. He serves on the Staff Tribunal of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund and has been appointed Chairman of the Austrian National Committee to supervise the compensation of victims of Nazi persecution.