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Email

fe267@cam.ac.uk

Charles & Katharine Darwin Research Fellow

Dipl. Jur. (Bucerius), MJur (Oxford), PhD (Cambridge)

Interests

Fabian serves as a Charles & Katharine Darwin Research Fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge, and is also a Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law. His primary research interests span general international law—with a particular emphasis on dispute settlement and state responsibility—international investment law, international environmental law, and German public law. At present, his research focuses on national security, climate change, and the functions of international courts within the global legal architecture. He is a co-editor of the Edward Elgar Research Handbook on State Responsibility in the 21st Century (forthcoming 2025).

Between 2020 and 2023, Fabian wrote his PhD on "Self-Judgment in International Law", funded by a W.M. Tapp Studentship and the German Academic Scholarship Foundation. Prior to joining the University of Cambridge, he was a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg. He completed his legal studies at Bucerius Law School, Hamburg (Dipl. Jur.), Waseda University, Tokyo (exchange), and the University of Oxford (M.Jur.). In 2022, he received the Rosalyn Higgins Prize from The Law and Practice of International Courts & Tribunals for his article on ‘Informal Communications to the International Court of Justice in Cases of Non-Appearance’.

Fabian has supervised undergraduate students (B.A. in Law) in Human Rights Law and International Law. He has also led workshops for Cambridge LL.M. students in subjects such as International Law of Global Governance, International Investment Law, and International Law as a Legal System. His teaching experience extends to German constitutional law at the University of Heidelberg, and he is currently an adjunct lecturer (Lehrbeauftragter) at Humboldt University, Berlin.

Since 2022, Fabian has served as an Associate Editor for International Law in Domestic Courts (OUP). His previous editorial roles have included appointments as Assistant Editor for Investment Arbitration at Kluwer Arbitration Blog, General Editor of the Cambridge International Law Journal, Editorial Assistant at the ICSID Review - Foreign Investment Law Journal, and Editor of Voelkerrechtsblog.

In recent years, his work has been cited by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court and the Wall Street Journal.

Research centres and interest groups

Publications

 

Articles

"Informal Communications to the International Court of Justice in Cases of Non-Appearance" The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 22 (2023), 5-29

Citation:
The Law and Practice of International Courts and Tribunals 22 (2023), 5-29
Published: Mar 2023

"Give a Court an Inch and It Will Take a Yard? The Exercise of Jurisdiction over Incidental Issues" Heidelberg Journal of International Law (ZaöRV) 81 (2021), 235 – 264

Citation:
Heidelberg Journal of International Law (ZaöRV) 81 (2021), 235 – 264
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17104/0044-2348-2021-1-235
Published: Apr 2021

"Die Grenzen der Zulässigkeit des "nationality planning" im Investitionsschutzrecht (International Investment Law’s Limits to ‘Nationality Planning’)" Archiv des Völkerrechts 58 (2020), 307 – 336.

Citation:
Archiv des Völkerrechts 58 (2020), 307 – 336.
Published: Nov 2020

"Die Rückkehr Argentiniens an die Kapitalmärkte: Völkerrechtliche und Finanzmarktrechtliche Implikationen (Argentina’s Return to the Capital Markets – Perspectives under Public International Law and Financial Law)" Bucerius Law Journal (2016) 10 – 18.

Citation:
Bucerius Law Journal (2016) 10 – 18.
Published: Aug 2016

Book Reviews

Wolfgang Alschner, 'Investment Arbitration and State-Driven Reform' International & Comparative Law Quarterly 72 (2023) 567 - 569

Gus van Harten, 'The Trouble with Foreign Investor Protection' European Journal of International Law 32 (2021) 1111-1118.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1093/ejil/chab063
Published Aug 2021

Tommy Koh, ‘Building a New Legal Order for the Oceans’ Heidelberg Journal of International Law (ZaöRV) 80 (2020) 745 – 749.

Published Sep 2020

Case Notes

The Legal Effect of ICJ Advisory Opinions Redefined? The Mauritius/Maldives Delimitation Case - Judgment on Preliminary Objections Melbourne Journal of International Law, 22 (2021) 383-402.

Die Unionsgrundrechte vor dem Bundesverfassungsgericht (EU Fundamental Rights Before the German Federal Constitutional Court) Juristische Schulung (2020) 502 – 506.

Co-Author/s:
Eva Neumann
Published: Jun 2020

Blog Posts

Conference Papers

"The Judicialization of National Security Interests in International Law" (Levan Alexidze International Law Moot Court Competition 2023 (Tbilisi, Georgia))

Conference:
Levan Alexidze International Law Moot Court Competition 2023 (Tbilisi, Georgia)
Published: Dec 2023

"The Struggle over National Security: Between Self-Judgment and Legalization" (ESIL Interest Group on Social Sciences and International Law, Pre-Workshop to the ESIL Annual Conference 2023)

Conference:
ESIL Interest Group on Social Sciences and International Law, Pre-Workshop to the ESIL Annual Conference 2023
Published: Sep 2023

"Systematicity as Progress" (International Law and Progress - A Cursed Relationship? | AjV-DGIR Conference 2023)

Conference:
International Law and Progress - A Cursed Relationship? | AjV-DGIR Conference 2023
Published: Sep 2023

"National Security and Self-Judgment: Towards Judicialization?" (University of Michigan Law School, 9th Junior Scholars' Conference)

Conference:
University of Michigan Law School, 9th Junior Scholars' Conference
Published: Apr 2023

"Self-Judgment in International Law: Judicialization and Resistance" (Oxford International Law Workshop in honour of Judge Giorgio Gaja)

Conference:
Oxford International Law Workshop in honour of Judge Giorgio Gaja
Published: Jul 2022

"Self-Judgment in International Investment Law: Shifting Paradigms" (Society of International Economic Law - 11th Conference of the Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network)

Conference:
Society of International Economic Law - 11th Conference of the Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Network
Published: Jun 2022

"The Unstable Equilibrium of Self-Judgment in International Law" (Humanities Forum for PhD Scholars of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation)

Conference:
Humanities Forum for PhD Scholars of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
Published: Mar 2022

"Altruism in International Law " (Working Group on Altruism in Law, St Johann Academy of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation)

Conference:
Working Group on Altruism in Law, St Johann Academy of the German Academic Scholarship Foundation
Published: Aug 2021

"Nord Stream 2: Legal Dimensions of a Political Controversy" (Referentenbesprechung (Monday Meeting), Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg)

Conference:
Referentenbesprechung (Monday Meeting), Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg
Published: Sep 2019

Reports

Investment Treaties and Climate Change

Co-Author/s:
Cambridge Research Group on Foreign Investment and the Environment
Published: Apr 2022