Sir Franklin Delow Berman, (born 23 December 1939) is a British barrister and leading authority in

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

. He was

Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Legal Adviser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (known as Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office until 1968) is the chief legal adviser and the head of the Legal Directorate of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The current Legal Adviser is ...

from 1991 to 1999.

Background and education

Berman was born in South Africa. He was educated at Rondebosch Boys' High School, the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

(BA in Mathematics 1959, BSc 1960), and

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, and took

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

in Jurisprudence. He then undertook doctoral work at

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer c ...

, where he held a studentship.

Diplomatic Service

Berman joined

Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which ...

in 1965, and was called to the bar of

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

in 1966. He was assistant legal advisor for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 1965 to 1971, legal advisor to the British Military Government of

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

from 1971 to 1972, legal adviser at the British Embassy,

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, from 1972 to 1974. He was a legal counsellor for the FCO from 1974/5–82, counsellor for the UK Mission to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

from 1982 to 1985. He became deputy legal adviser in 1988 and served as

from 1991 to 1999. He was made an honorary

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1992.

After the Diplomatic Service

He joined

Essex Court Chambers Essex Court Chambers is a set of commercial barristers in Lincoln's Inn Fields, central London. It has 96 tenants, of whom 45 are King's Counsels, also known as Silks. It is considered by legal commentators to be one of the 'Magic Circle' of Lo ...

in 2000, where he continues to practice law with a specialisation in international arbitration and advisory work in international law. He served as an ''

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with '' a priori''.) C ...

'' judge for the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

from 2003 to 2005, and has been a member of the

Permanent Court of Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that aris ...

since 2010. He is a

visiting professor In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic for which the visitor ...

of international law at the University of Oxford and the University of Cape Town, and of King's College London. Berman has served as an arbitrator in ICSID, LCIA and ICC cases. He was appointed in 2010 as the Legal Member of the Court of Arbitration between

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

under the

Indus Waters Treaty The Indus Water Treaty (IWT) is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, arranged and negotiated by the World Bank, to use the water available in the Indus River and its tributaries. It was signed in Karachi on 19 September 1960 b ...

Boards and committees

He has been chair of the Diplomatic Service Association (1979–82), the

Appeals In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

Board of the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (1985–2004), the

Trustee Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, is a synonym for anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility to ...

s of the University of Cape Town (member since 1999, chair since 2010), the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n National Fund for Compensation of Victims of Nazi Persecution (2001–present), and the Diplomatic Service Appeals Board (2002–06); and has served as a board member or trustee of many other organisations.

Honours

Berman was made a on 31 December 1993. He became an Honorary Fellow of Wadham College 1995, and of the Society of Advanced Legal Studies in 1997. He was awarded the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star by the

n Government in 2007. The University of Cape Town offers an annual Sir Franklin Berman Prize in International Law.(University of Cape Town) ''Law Review'' September 2009; p. 41

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Franklin 1939 births Members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration British barristers Living people South African Rhodes Scholars University of Cape Town alumni Alumni of Rondebosch Boys' High School Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria Honorary King's Counsel Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Cambodia Lawyers awarded knighthoods Members of the Middle Temple Members of HM Diplomatic Service British judges of international courts and tribunals 20th-century British diplomats