Thomas Franck

Thomas Franck is Murry and Ida Becker Professor of Law Emeritus at New York University School of Law, where he was Director of the Center for International Studies from 1965-2002. He is one of the leading scholars in international law, and is a prolific writer whose publications include Fairness in International Law and Institutions. ( Oxford University Press, 1995) and most recently Recourse To Force: State Action Against Threats and Armed Attacks (Cambridge University Press, 2002). He teaches courses in international law and UN constitutional law. Professor Franck's interest in public international law is practical as well as theoretical. Indeed, he has acted as legal advisor or counsel to many foreign governments, including Tanganyika, Kenya, Zanzibar, Mauritius, Solomon Islands, El Salvador, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Chad. As an advocate before the International Court of Justice, he has successfully represented Chad and is currently representing Bosnia in a suit brought against Serbia under the Genocide Convention. He has served as a judge ad hoc (Indonesia/Malaysia) before the World Court from 2001-2002. He is a member of the Tribunal constituted under the Law of the Sea Treaty to hear the boundary dispute between Guyana and Suriname. And, from 1986 to the present, he serves on the Department of State Advisory Committee on International Law. Professor Franck is past President of the American Society of International Law (1998-2000) and served as editor-in-chief of the The American Journal of International Law from 1984-1993. Today, Franck lends his services to numerous organizations ranging from the American Branch of the International Law Association to the American Society of International Law.