Professor Bernard Oxman, the Richard A. Hausler Professor of Law and globally recognized expert on the law of the sea, lectured on "The South China Sea Arbitration" on October 18. He is also the Faculty Chair of Miami Law's LL.M. in Maritime Law program.
Professor Oxman was one of five legal counsels to the Philippines in the case before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. Oxman is the first American to be appointed to serve as judge ad hoc in both the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
He has written extensively on the issue. In January 2013 the Philippines submitted to arbitration its dispute with China regarding the interpretation and application of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the South China Sea. In July 2016 the arbitral tribunal in The Hauge delivered a crushing blow to China, finding that its creation of artificial islands and overarching claims of sovereignty over the South China Sea was in violation of international law.
