Sir Frank Berman KCMG QC
Born: 1939
Call: 1966 (Middle Temple (Hon Bencher))
Silk: 1992
Contact
Essex Court Chambers
24 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3EG
Tel: 020 7813 8000 Fax: 020 7813 8080
fberman@essexcourt.net
Contact my clerk
About
Sir Franklin (Frank) Berman joined HM Diplomatic Service in 1965 and was Legal Adviser to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office from 1991-99. For the past 5 years he has been in practice in Essex Court Chambers specializing in international arbitration and advisory work in international law. He is Visiting Professor of International Law at Oxford, at the University of Cape Town, and at King’s College London.
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 the field.
He was 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 Chairman* and seven as Party-appointed Arbitrator** (both claimant and host State), and in three ICSID annulment proceedings***, as well as in arbitrations under the ICC, Stockholm Arbitration Institute and LCIA (sole arbitrator), and ad hoc.
* The Rompetrol Group N.V. v. Romania; Alemanni v. Argentine Republic; Global Trading Resource Corp. & others v. Ukraine
** F-W Oil Interests, Inc. v. Republic of Trinidad & Tobago; Bayindir
Insaat Turizm Ticaret Ve Sanayi A.S. v. Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Russell Resources International Limited & others v. Democratic Republic of the Congo; Libananco Holdings Co. Ltd v. Republic of Turkey; Marion Unglaube v. Republic of Costa Rica; Reinhard Unglaube v. Republic of Costa Rica; Vattenfall AB & others v. Federal Republic of Germany
*** Consortium R.F.C.C. v. Kingdom of Morocco; Empresas Lucchetti v. Peru; CECF Transgabonais v. Republic of Gabon
He is the former Chairman of the Diplomatic Service Appeal Board, and the Appeals Boards of the WEU and IOPCF, and currently chairs the Claims Committee of the Austrian General Settlement Fund for Victims of Nazi persecution. In 2006 the Republic of Austria awarded him the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star.
In 2010 he was appointed a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
Education
- BA, BSc, Cape Town
- BA, MA, Oxford
Languages
French & German (both fluent)
Areas of practice
