Sir Frank Berman to be awarded Honorary Doctorate

Sir Frank Berman 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.

He says of this honour:

Since my student days in the 1950s, the University of Cape Town has grown from a respected local seat of learning into one of world rank, with an admirable and impressive range of research activity. That doubles the pride I take in this honour, and in the fact that, although I read my law at Oxford, I’ve been able over the years to play a part in the UCT Law Faculty as well, in my chosen field of Public International Law. To be recognized for my work in international law and dispute settlement, at a moment at which both are facing a severe and brutal challenge, serves to underline the vital task falling on universities like Oxford and Cape Town of stimulating in coming generations the determination to achieve and defend an international law which can be understood and explained, and above all is effective.

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. From 2001 he served as Chairman of the Austrian Claims Committee for the compensation of victims of Nazi persecution until the completion of its work in 2017.

He is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and came to Oxford to read for a second BA in Law as a Rhodes Scholar. He then went on to doctoral research at Oxford in public international law under the supervision of Ian Brownlie.