24 LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, LONDON, WC2A 3EG, ENGLAND
- Tel:
- Work 020 7813 8000
- Fax:
- Fax 020 7813 8080
- DX:
- 320 LONDON CHANCERY LANE WC2
- Web:
- www.essexcourt.net
- Email:
Sir Franklin Berman QC
- Tel:
- Work +44 7813 8000
- Email:
Position
In practice as Essex Court Chambers for the past five years, specialising in international arbitration and advisory work in international law. His 40-year career in international law and diplomacy has spanned a wide and varied field, including settlement of disputes; the law of treaties; state responsibility; diplomatic and state immunity; maritime delimitation; the law of the Continental shelf; outer space and nuclear energy; the law of international organisations; the UN Security Council; the laws of war and neutrality; international criminal tribunals; and numerous other areas. Well-placed in the light of this extensive experience for advisory work in all areas of public international law, for international dispute settlement proceedings of all kinds and for international commercial arbitration. His appointment to the International Court of Justice as judge ad hoc in the case concerning Certain property (Liechtenstein v Germany) confirms his high international standing in this field. Appointed by the British government in 2004 to the list of arbitrators under the Washington Convention (ICSID), and is currently sitting or has recently sat in three ICSID arbitrations as party-appointed arbitrator (both claimant and host state) (F-W Oil Interests, Inc v Republic of Trinidad and Tobago; Bayindir Insaat Turizm Ticaret Ve Sanayi AS v Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Russell Resources International Limited & others v Democratic Republic of the Congo), in two ICSID annulment proceedings (Consortium RFCC v Kingdom of Morocco; Luchetti v Peru), and in arbitrations under the ICC and LCIA (sole arbitrator) and ad hoc. He sits as chairman of the Diplomatic Service Appeal Board and of the Claims Committee of the Austrian General Settlement Fund for victims of Nazi persecution.
Career
Joined HM Diplomatic Service 1965, legal adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 1991-99; visiting professor of International Law at Oxford, the University of Cape Town, and King's College London.
Member
Austrian National Claims Committee for the Victims of Nazi Persecution (chairman); British Institute of International and Comparative Law (advisory council); British Year Book of International Law (editorial board); Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR); Diplomatic Service Appeals Board (chairman); London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association.
Practice Areas
Public international law
