Dr. James D. Fry

Biography

James Fry, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the LLM Programme, 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, the International Litigation and Arbitration Group of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York and the Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Dr. Fry has provided legal counsel and expertise to various international organizations throughout the world, including the International Committee for the Red Cross, the International Organization for Migration, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the World Meteorological Organization and the World Trade Organization, and he has represented the New York City Bar Association in the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Dr. Fry also has worked on a variety of international cases under ICSID, UNCITRAL and ICC rules. Since joining HKU, Dr. Fry has held visiting academic positions with such reputable institutions as the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts 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 SMU Dedman School of Law, the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Law and Politics, and the University of Vienna School of Law. Dr. Fry currently is a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Atlantic Council, the Asia Society and the Travelers’ Century Club (86 countries visited and counting). Dr. Fry also is a member of the New York Bar, the American Society of International Law, the European Society of International Law, the American Bar Association and the New York City Bar Association. Dr. Fry plays an active role in the Hong Kong Law Society’s Constitutional Affairs and Human Rights Committee and in the International Law Association’s Committee on Nuclear Weapons, Non-Proliferation and Contemporary International Law. Dr. Fry is writing a number of books dealing with international law and comparative law. Recent publications include Legal Resolution of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Disputes (Cambridge University Press, 2013), as well as pieces in such prestigious journals as the American Journal of International Law, the Leiden Journal of International Law, the Michigan Journal of International Law, the Stanford Journal of International Law, the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, the University of New South Wales Law Journal, and King’s Law Journal. From 2004-2013, Dr. Fry was Managing Editor of International Organizations Law Review. He currently serves on the editorial board of the Hong Kong Law Journal and the Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law, and he also reviews articles for a number of top law journals. Dr. Fry enjoys teaching courses that relate to international law and comparative law. He has received a number of teaching-related and research-related grants and awards. Dr. Fry hails from New York, although he has spent significant time in Bahrain, Japan, Switzerland, The Netherlands and China. Dr. Fry welcomes all media inquiries, consultation requests, lecture invitations and expressions of interest from prospective PhD students.

Research Interest

Dr. Fry is eager to supervise research students in the area of public international law, especially international and regional protection of human rights, law and development, international humanitarian law, international criminal law, arms control and disarmament law, international investment law and arbitration, international dispute settlement, the law of the sea, and the history and theory of international law. He also is interested in supervising some projects dealing with comparative law and legal education.