James Richard Crawford, AC, SC, FBA (14 November 1948[3] – 31 May 2021[4])[5][6] was an Australian academic and practitioner in the field of public international law.
Crawford later followed O'Connell to Oxford, was accepted to University College and completed his doctorate on the creation of states in international law under the supervision of Ian Brownlie, graduating in 1977.
In a nice piece of symmetry, his opposite number as Chichele Professor at Oxford was his DPhil supervisor Ian Brownlie.
Crawford was admitted to practice as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of Australia in 1977 and was called to the New South Wales bar in 1987.
[15] He also appeared as counsel for various interested parties in the following advisory opinions of the ICJ: Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons,[16] Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory[17] and Accordance with international law of the unilateral declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo.
[21] He was also counsel for China before the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization in the United States – Definitive Anti-Dumping case.
[22] Crawford also developed a substantial practice as an international arbitrator, and developed a particular reputation in investor state disputes run by the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes ('ICSID') and in matters pertaining to the law of the sea, especially maritime boundary delimitation.
In October 2012, Crawford was nominated for election as a Judge of the International Court of Justice, with the support of the Australian Government.
[30][31] In November 2014, he was elected as an ICJ judge with an absolute majority of votes from the UN General Assembly and Security Council, and commenced his term in 2015.