New York  ·  Paris  ·  Beirut

FrancoisNaaman

Lawyer & Researcher in Public International Law

International Organizations Human Rights Treaty Negotiation
Francois Naaman
01About

I am an international lawyer whose work sits at the intersection of international criminal law, transitional justice, and international organizations. My research is concerned with how accountability mechanisms are built, sustained, or undermined in the shadow of political constraint, and with the legal architecture of post-conflict transitions.

I hold a J.D. from Columbia Law School and a Master's in International Law from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. I have worked at the ICC Office of the Prosecutor and at Liechtenstein's Permanent Mission to the United Nations, and have published and presented at international law conferences and fora.

Associate
Vinson & Elkins LLP
Present · New York
Intern, Office of the Prosecutor
International Criminal Court
Summer 2026 · The Hague
Adviser
Permanent Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations
2025 · New York
02Publications
2026
Mapping the Invisible: A Topology of De Facto Amnesties and the Shifting Landscape of Accountability
Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law, Vol. 58, Iss. 1 (2026), p. 307
Journal Article
2025
Fairness on the Security Council: Rediscovering the Duty to Abstain
EJIL:Talk! — Blog of the European Journal of International Law, 13 May 2025
Commentary
03Notes & Commentary

Short-form commentary on international law, international institutions, and the politics of accountability.

04Speaking & Events
Oct
22
2026
Emerging Voices — Re-Humanizing International Law
American Branch of the International Law Association · New York City Bar Association
Paper Presentation
Oct
07
2025
Disarmament from the Margins
Glasgow Centre for International Law and Security · University of Glasgow & Glasgow Caledonian University
Conference
Sep
25
2025
Turning Points and Paradigm Shifts in International Law: ASIL Midyear Meeting
Case Western Reserve University School of Law · Cleveland, Ohio
Paper Presentation
May
02
2021
Kalam — Maghreb Orient Express, TV5Monde
TV5Monde · Co-founder, Kalam
TV Appearance
05Contact

I welcome correspondence on matters of research, collaboration, and public international law, particularly concerning international courts and tribunals, the UN system, and post-conflict legal frameworks.

Emailfn2263@columbia.edu→ SSRNpapers.ssrn.com→ LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/francois-naaman→ Bluesky@francoisnaaman.bsky.social→
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Private workspace
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All notes
Saved
Saturday morning is the keystone. Guard it like a client deadline. Everything else orbits around those 3–4 hours. Morning is the only truly protected slot on weekdays — BigLaw evenings are too unpredictable to anchor anything serious.
Weekday rhythm
6:45 – 7:15 am
Press & current affairs 30 min · protected
FT, Le Monde, UN News, ICC/ICJ press releases. Twitter feed scan including court accounts. Flag anything worth a tweet or relevant to research.
↗ open links
Press Financial Times Le Monde New York Times Reuters Legal Institutions UN News ICC Press ICJ Press Social X / Twitter
7:15 – 7:45 am
Legal blogs & court alerts 30 min · protected
EJIL:Talk!, Opinio Juris, Lawfare, Just Security. Check court press release alerts. Skim headlines, read one piece in full.
↗ open links
Blogs EJIL:Talk! Opinio Juris Lawfare Just Security Strasbourg Observers Völkerrechtsblog Le Club des Juristes Human Rights Watch Security Council Report ICRC Hum. Law & Policy Court alerts ICJ ICC ECHR / HUDOC IACtHR ITLOS
Lunch
One article or chapter fragment 20–30 min · opportunistic
Work through the article saved in the morning, or advance a footnote or outline note for the current piece.
Commute
Passive absorption variable
Podcasts (Lawfare, EJIL Live), audiobooks, re-reading saved articles. A thinking slot, not a writing slot.
9:30 – 10 pm
Tweet drafting or micro-note optional
If not depleted: draft 1–2 tweets for the week's queue, or a 3-sentence note. Skip entirely on late nights.
Saturday
9:00 – 9:30 am
Warm-up & orientation
Re-read last session's notes. Orient to where you are in the current piece. No new input — reconnect to the argument.
9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Serious writing block 3 hours · sacred
Law review piece or next blog post — in that priority order. Phone away. No email. Aim for 600–1,000 words or one completed section.
12:30 – 1:30 pm
Targeted scholarship reading
1–2 articles directly relevant to the current piece. Annotate and link to your argument outline. Purposeful footnote-building.
Sunday
10:00 – 10:20 am
ECHR weekly Case-Law Information Note 20 min · jurisprudence
Free PDF digest published weekly by the Court on HUDOC. The single most efficient way to stay current with Strasbourg jurisprudence.
↗ open links
ECHR Case-Law Analysis HUDOC Database Strasbourg Observers
10:20 – 11:50 am
Broader scholarship reading
One longer piece outside the immediate project. AJIL, EJIL, ICLQ, LJIL, JICJ. Build the reading log.
↗ open links
US AJIL YJIL HILJ VJIL JILP CJTL AJIL Unbound CWRJIL European EJIL ICLQ LJIL JICJ IOLR IJTJ Clunet (JDI) RBDI
11:50 am – 12:20 pm
Week planning & tweet batch 30 min
Write and schedule 3–4 tweets for the coming week. Review pipeline status. Flag anything urgent for Saturday.
Publishing cadence
Weekly
3–4 tweets
1 substantive commentary · 1 thread on something being read or written · 1 engagement with a scholar. Batched Sunday, posted Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat.
Monthly
1 blog post (~1,200–2,000 words)
EJIL:Talk!, Opinio Juris, Just Security, or own site. Drafted across 2 Saturdays, finalized Sunday.
Quarterly
1 law review section + 1 submission or pitch
Target 1 full article submission per year during BigLaw. Keep something always in circulation.
Track pieces from first draft through submission and publication. Move cards forward as work progresses.
Live view of your Trello boards. Cards are read directly from Trello each time you open this tab — click any card to open it in Trello.