Christian J. Tams joined King’s College London in November 2025 as a Professor of Public International Law. He previously held professorial appointments at the University of Glasgow (2008-2025) and at Sorbonne Law School in Paris (2022-2025). 

Christian studied law at the universities of Kiel and Lyon III during the 1990s before moving on to Cambridge for an LLM and a PhD (2000-2004). He maintains a part-time affiliation with Leuphana Law School in Germany. In recent years, he has held visiting professorships at the universities of Vienna, Kobe, Paris X, Cologne, Minas Gerais and Sciences Po Paris.

As a qualified German lawyer and associate member of 11 King’s Bench Walk, Christian regularly advises governments, international organisations, NGOs and the private sector on aspects of international law. Over the past decades, he has acted in proceedings before the ICJ, ITLOS, the IUSCT, investment arbitration tribunals and domestic courts. He is a member of the scientific advisory council of the German Federal Foreign Office.

Christian is much involved in the work of the European Society of International Law, and, since September 2025, serves as the Society’s tenth President.

Christian currently has capacity to take on PhD supervisions. 

Research interests 

Christian is a generalist international lawyer, with particular expertise in the fields of dispute settlement, international security, sovereign immunities and investment protection. In these and other fields, he has published 27 books (as author or editor) and around 180 articles, chapters and notes - among them widely-cited works on the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the enforcement of public interests in international law and the Genocide Convention.

Christian‘s current research focuses on the role of the International Court of Justice and the public international law framework governing global sports.

Teaching interests 

Public international law, in particular:

• Settlement of international disputes
• Law of treaties
• United Nations law
• International investment law

Selected publications 

Zimmermann and Tams, The Statute of the International Court of Justice. A Commentary (3rd edn., OUP 2019)

Tams, Berster and Schiffbauer, The Genocide Convention. Article-by-Article Analysis (2nd edn., Hart and Nomos 2024)

de Waele and Tams, Realising the Hope of Ages? Novel Perspectives on the Permanent Court of International Justice (Nomos 2025)

Tams, Commentary on Article 2(4) (Use of Force), in Simma, Nolte, Khan and Paulus (eds.), The Charter of the United Nations. A Commentary (4th edn., OUP 2024), 289-366

Tams, Schill and Hofmann, International Investment Law and General International Law. Radiating Effects? (Edward Elgar 2023)