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Prof. James D. Fry

Associate Professor

Academic Member of the Centre for Chinese Law
Fellow of the Centre for Comparative & Public Law
Senior Fellow, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Visiting Scholar, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University

PhD, Geneva (IHEID)
ALM, Harvard
LLM, Leiden
JD, Georgetown
MIA, Columbia
BA, BYU

Biography

James Fry served as a member of the teaching faculty of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva before joining the University of Hong Kong in 2008. Before that, Dr. Fry worked with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser and with the International Litigation and Arbitration Group of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York. He also served as a Law Clerk to Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye on the New York Court of Appeals and as a Special Adviser to President Ivana Hrdličková on the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Dr. Fry also has served as a legal officer for the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission and has provided counsel and expertise to various international institutions throughout the world, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. Dr. Fry was selected to represent the New York City Bar Association and the American Society of International Law in the United Nations at various times. He also has worked on a wide range of international cases under HKIAC, ICC, ICSID, NASD, UNCC, UNCITRAL, UNCLOS, and ad hoc rules, including cases administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and he has given legal advice to various states in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

Since joining HKU, Dr. Fry has held visiting academic positions with such reputable institutions as Boston University School of Law, the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, the University of Fribourg Faculty of Law, the International Maritime Law Institute, the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, the McGill University Faculty of Law, the University of Panama Faculty of Law and Political Science, the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt, Seoul National University School of Law, the SMU Dedman School of Law, the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Law and Politics, and the University of Vienna School of Law. He also has been a fellow with the Aspen Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, and SIPA, as well as a Rotary Foundation Scholar and a Weatherhead Scholar. Dr. Fry is an active member of the New York Bar, the Hong Kong Law Society, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Atlantic Council, the Mensa Foundation Scholarship Program Panel, the National Eagle Scout Association, and the International Law Association. He is an accredited mediator with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution and a trained negotiator with the Association of International Energy Negotiators.

As a competitive traveler, Dr. Fry has visited 103 countries and counting. Dr. Fry originally hails from New York City, although he has spent significant time in Austria, Bahrain, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Panama, Saudi Arabia, and Switzerland. As a result, he has varying degrees of proficiency in the languages and cultures of those countries.

Research Area

  • Public International Law
  • International Energy Law
  • International Dispute Settlement
  • International Conflict and Security Law
  • International Organizations Law
  • Contract Law and Tort Law

Research Area

  • Public International Law
  • International Energy Law
  • International Dispute Settlement
  • International Conflict and Security Law
  • International Organizations Law
  • Contract Law and Tort Law

Publications

Placement of Selected PhD Students and Post-PhD Fellows

Research and Supervision Interests

Raw Data for The Values of International Organizations Project

Books

  • Arms Control Law in Context (sole authored; completed manuscript; under consideration, forthcoming 2024 or 2025; approximately 310 pages)
  • Discreet Charm in the Republican Creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (with co-author Guillermo Coronado Aguilar; under consideration; forthcoming 2024; approximately 250 pages)
  • The Values of International Organizations (Bryane Michael & Natasha Pushkarna as co-authors; Manchester University Press’ Melland Schill Studies in International Law Series; 2021; 264 pages)
  • Legal Resolution of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Disputes (sole authored; Cambridge University Press; 2013; 515 pages) (book reviews provided by Dieter Fleck in 20 Journal of Conflict and Security Law 481-483 (2015), Bahram Ghiassee Bahram in 6 International Energy Law Review 226-229 (2014) and Jaemin Lee in 21 Seoul International Law Journal 171-175 (2014))

Articles, Book Chapters and Book Reviews

  • Article, Dressed to Kill or Be Killed: Strengthening the Combatant-Civilian Divide with a Constant Uniform Policy (forthcoming 2024; approximately 45 pages)
  • Article, The Folly of ICJ Assumptions Favoring Non-Producers (forthcoming 2024; approximately 40 pages)
  • Article, Aristocrats in Arbitration: Did Class Affect Inter-State Arbitration Before or After the 1899 Hague Peace Conference?, 26 Hague Journal on the Rule of Law (2024; 59 pages; with Arthur L.W. Cheung and Bryane Michael as co-authors; ISI Web of Science Journal) 
  • Article, The Permanent Court of International Justice in Global History, 33 Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 151-179 (2023; lead article; “B” ranking by the Australian Research Council)
  • Book Chapter, The Limited Role of Judicial Dispute Settlement, in Research Handbook on International Arms Control Law 481-501 (Eric Myjer & Thilo Marauhn eds., Edward Elgar Publishing; with co-author Saroj Nair; 2022)
  • Article, Deconstructing Dud Disarmament Disputes, 26 Journal of Conflict and Security Law185-218 (Oxford University Press; 2020; with co-author Saroj Nair; “C” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, UN Security Council Resolution of International Water Disputes, 50 Georgetown Journal of International Law 363-424 (2019; with co-author Agnes Chong; “A” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, The Semisecret Life of Late Mao-Era International Law Scholarship, 39 Pace Law Review 991-1057 (2019; with co-author Huang Yining; “C” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Case Comment, First Financial Ins. Co. v. Jetco Contr. Corp., 1 NY3d 64 (2003), in Judith S. Kaye in Her Own Words 229 (SUNY Press, Henry M. Greenberg et al. eds., 2019)
  • Article, Moral Disarmament: Reviving a Legacy of the Great War, 40 Michigan Journal of International Law 1-45 (2018; lead article; with co-author Saroj Nair; “A*” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Rights, Functions, and International Legal Personality of International Organizations, 36 Boston University International Law Journal 221-249 (2018; “B” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, The OSCE and Weapons of Mass Destruction: Un Savant Mélange, 45 North Carolina Journal of International Law 1-29 (2018; lead article; “C” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Ethiopian Exceptionalism and the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, 24 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 135-157 (University of Edinburgh Press, 2017; lead article; “A” journal ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Other Pacific Means of Resolving Iran’s ICJ Certain Iranian Assets Application, 28 American Review of International Arbitration 191-234 (2017; lead article; published by Columbia Law School; “C” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Smoke and Mirrors: Reconciling the Right to Health and the Right to Tobacco in Times of Armed Conflict, 39 Houston Journal of International Law 489-555 (2017; lead article; with co-author Agnes Chong; “C” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Oil Pollution and the Dynamic Relationship between International Environmental Law and the Law of the Sea, 47 Georgetown Journal of International Law 1001-1034 (2016; with co-author Inna Amesheva; “A” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, International Water Law and China’s Management of its International Rivers, 39 Boston College International and Comparative Law Review 227-266 (2016; lead article; with co-author Agnes Chong; “C” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Cleaved International Law: Exploring the Dynamic Relationship between International Climate Change Law and International Health Law, 40 Fletcher Forum of World Affairs 73-98 (2016; with co-author Inna Ameshiva)
  • Article, Towards a New World for Investor-State Arbitration through Transparency, 48 New York University Journal of International Law and Politics 795-866 (2016; with co-author Odysseas Repousis; “A*” journal ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Armed Conflict and State Succession in Investor-State Arbitration, 22 Columbia Journal of European Law 421-449 (2016; with co-author Odysseas Repousis; “B” journal ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Intertemporality and International Investment Arbitration: Protecting the Jurisdiction of Established Tribunals, 31 Arbitration International 213-259 (Oxford University Press, 2015; with co-author Odysseas Repousis; “A” journal ranking by the ARC; Scopus journal)
  • Article, Privacy, Predictability and Internet Surveillance in the US and China: Better the Devil You Know?, 37 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law 419-501 (2015; lead article; “B” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Book Chapter, Membership in the United Nations, in Leading Judicial Decisions of the Law of International Organizations 138-155 (Ramses A. Wessel et al. eds., Oxford University Press, 2015; with co-author Agnes Chong)
  • Book Chapter, Investment Arbitration with Disputes in the Nuclear Energy Sector: Environmental Protection versus Investor Protection, in Bridging the Gap between International Investment Law and the Environment 215-246 (Ige Dekker et al. eds., Eleven Publishing, 2015; with co-author Odysseas Repousis)
  • Article, The Roots of Historic Title: Non-Western Pre-Colonial Normative Systems and Legal Resolution of Territorial Disputes, 27 Leiden Journal of International Law 727-754 (2014; with co-author Melissa Loja; “A” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Forged Independence and Impartiality: Conflicts of Interest of International Arbitrators in Investment Disputes, 30 Arbitration International 189-264 (Oxford University Press, 2014; with co-author Juan Ignacio Stampalija; lead article; “A” ranking by the ARC; Scopus journal)
  • Book Chapter, Attribution of Responsibility, in Principles of Shared Responsibility in International Law: An Appraisal of the State of the Art 99-135 (André Nollkaemper & Ilias Plakokefalos eds., Cambridge University Press, 2014)
  • Book Review, Non-Proliferation Law as a Special Regime, by Daniel H. Joyner & Marco Roscini, eds., 108 American Journal of International Law 146-153 (2014; “A*” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Pluralism, Religion and the Moral Fairness of International Law, 4 Oxford Journal of Law and Religion 393-418 (Oxford University Press, 2014; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Towards an International Piracy Tribunal: The Cure to the Legal Limbo of Captured Pirates, 22 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 341-368 (University of Edinburgh Press, 2014; lead article; “A” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, The XM25 Individual Semi-Automatic Airburst Weapon System and International Law: Landing on the Wrong Planet?, 36 University of New South Wales Law Journal 682-710 (2013; “A*” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science Journal)
  • Article, China’s Version of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention: Comparing Ravens and Writing Desks?, 27 King’s Law Journal 60-84 (2013; “B” ranking by the ARC; Scopus journal)
  • Article, Reassessing Venezuela’s Organic Hydrocarbon Law: A Balance Between Sovereignty and Efficiency?, 6 Journal of World Energy Law & Business 234-259 (Oxford University Press, 2013; with co-author Ibrahim El-Fadil; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Towards an Agreement on Investment in Mercosur: Conflict and Complementarity between International Investment Law and International Trade-in-Services Law, 13 Journal of World Investment & Trade 556-596 (Brill, 2012; with co-author Juan Ignacio Stampalija; “A” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Formation of Customary International Law through Consensus in International Organizations, 17 Austrian Review of International and European Law 49-82 (2012; “C” ranking by ARC)
  • Article, Early Security Council Efforts at Nuclear Non-Proliferation Law and Policy: Cooperation Forgotten, 21 Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems 337-358 (2012; “B” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Regularity through Reason: A Foundation of Virtue for International Arbitration, 4 Contemporary Asia Arbitration Journal 57-94 (National Taiwan University Press, 2011; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article,Of Pinpricks and Cannon Shots: UN Arms Embargoes and Peacekeeping as Coercive Disarmament Measures, 17 U.C. Davis Journal of International Law & Policy 213-232 (2011; lead article; “C” journal ranking by ARC)
  • Article, Gas Smells Awful: UN Forces, Riot-Control Agents and the Chemical Weapons Convention, 31 Michigan Journal of International Law 475-559 (2010; lead article; “A*” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Non-Participation in the International Court of Justice Revisited: Change or Plus Ça Change?, 49 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 35-74 (2010; lead article; “A” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Sovereign Equality under the Chemical Weapons Convention: Doughnuts over Holes, 15 Journal of Conflict & Security Law 45-63 (Oxford University Press, 2010; “C” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Book Chapter, Ambiguity in “Arising” Phrases: Caution for Drafters of Intended Narrow Arbitration Clauses, in AAA Handbook on Commercial Arbitration 127-134 (Thomas E. Carbonneau & Jeanette A. Jaeggi eds., 2d ed., 2010; with co-author Barry Garfinkel)
  • Article, The Swindle of Fragmented Criminalization: Continuing Piecemeal Responses to International Terrorism and Al Qaeda, 43 New England Law Review 377-435 (2009; lead article; “C” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Désordre Public International under the New York Convention: Wither Truly International Public Policy, 8 Chinese Journal of International Law 81-134 (Oxford University Press, 2009; “B” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Arbitrating Arms Control Disputes, 44 Stanford Journal of International Law 359-420 (2008; “A” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, Dionysian Disarmament: Security Council WMD Disarmament and Arms Control Measures and their Legal Implications, 29 Michigan Journal of International Law 197-292 (2008; “A*” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Legitimacy Push: Towards a Gramscian Approach to International Law, 13 UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 307-336 (2008; lead article; “B” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Coercion, Causation and the Fictional Elements of Indirect State Responsibility, 40 Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 611-642 (2007; lead article; “A” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, International Human Rights Law in Investment Arbitration: Evidence of International Law’s Unity, 18 Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law 77-150 (2007; “B” ranking by the ARC), reprinted in Classics in International Investment Law ch. 19 (August Reinisch ed., 2014, Edward Elgar Publishing)
  • Article, Remaining Valid: Security Council Resolutions, Textualism, and the Invasion of Iraq, 15 Tulane Journal of International & Comparative Law 609-660 (2007; “B” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Contextualized Legal Reviews for the Methods and Means of Warfare: Cave Combat and International Humanitarian Law, 44 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 453-519 (2006; “A” ranking by the ARC; Scopus and ISI Web of Science journal)
  • Article, The UN Security Council and the Law of Armed Conflict: Amity or Enmity?, 38 George Washington International Law Review 327-348 (2006; “B” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, European Asylum Law: Race-to-the-Bottom Harmonization?, 15 Journal of Transnational Law & Policy 97-108 (2005; “C” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, The Federal Arbitration Act, UNCITRAL Model Law and New York, 8 International Arbitration Law Review 1-13 (2005; lead article; “C” ranking by the ARC)
  • Book Chapter, Foreign Direct Investment in Arab Countries: A Guide to Better Understanding Islamic Financial Doctrine, in Strengthening Relations with Arab and Islamic Countries through International Law: E-Commerce, the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism and Foreign Investment 287- 308 (Permanent Court of Arbitration ed., 2003; with co-author J. Michael Taylor)
  • Article, Quasi-In Rem Jurisdiction and Discovery in Enforcing an Arbitration Award: Understanding CME Media Enterprises B.V. v. Zelezny, 6 International Arbitration Law Review 100-105 (2003; “C” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Islamic Law and the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal: The Primacy of International Law over Municipal Law, 18 Arbitration International 105-124 (Oxford University Press, 2002; lead article; “A” ranking by the ARC; Scopus journal)
  • Article, Terrorism as a Crime Against Humanity and Genocide: The Backdoor to Universal Jurisdiction, 7 UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 169-200 (2002; “B” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Struggling to Teethe: Japan’s Antitrust Enforcement Regime, 32 Georgetown Journal of International Law 825-858 (2001; formerly Law and Policy in International Business; “A” ranking by the ARC)
  • Article, Osama Bin Laden – The War Criminal, 13 International Legal Perspectives 16-21 (2001)
  • Article, A Safety Net for the Internet?: SEC Protection of Online Investors from Fraud, George Washington Corporate Law and Business Journal, Summer 2000, at 56-85 (with co-author Una Min)

Placement of Selected PhD Students and Post-PhD Fellows

Dr. Agnes Chong – Assistant Professor of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dr. Dang Heping – Assistant Professor of Law, Chinese University of Hong Kong Shenzhen

Dr. Walter Lee – Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Administration, Hong Kong Metropolitan University

Dr. Liu Yang – Assistant Professor of Law, East China University of Political Science and Law

Dr. Fry’s research lies at the intersection between law, history and international relations. Operating from a critical realist ontology and a postpositivist epistemology, he combines archival, empirical and doctrinal analysis and reasoning in an effort to better understand why the law is the way it is and what the relationship is between law and state behavior, if any.

As an active researcher and mentor, Dr. Fry is eager to supervise research students in the area of public international law. His current interests involve arms control and disarmament law, international humanitarian law, international organizations law and international dispute settlement. He also is interested in supervising some projects dealing with comparative law, especially East Asian law and East Asian approaches to international law.

The project The Values of International Organizations has been made possible by a generous grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No 1740221). The results of that project will be published in book format in 2019. The book quantifies international organizations’ affiliation with particular principles like cooperation, peace and equality through the language of their charters. The raw data at the heart of that book can be found at the following link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r5mx62ev58r0lzb/AADm4r1ecOuJLX3OsEWsBssca?dl=0.

When using this material, please acknowledge the copyright of James D. Fry, Bryane Michael & Natasha Pushkarna, The Values of International Organizations Data, at www.law.hku.hk/academic_staff/dr-james-d-fry.