Dr Massimo Lando
Associate Professor
Areas of interest
Massimo's research interests are in general international law, with a special focus on:
- Settlement of international disputes
- Sources of international law
- Law of the sea
- International law in domestic courts
Postgraduate supervision
Massimo welcomes applications from prospective research students across areas of international law.
Teaching
Massimo teaches commercial law and international law. He has also previously taught contract law and land law.
Background
Massimo has joined the University of Reading as Associate Professor in 2026 from an international law boutique firm based in London. Previously, he worked as Assistant Professor at the University of Hong Kong (2023-2025) and City University of Hong Kong (2020-2023). He also worked as Associate Legal Officer at the International Court of Justice (2017-2020).
Massimo has completed his degrees at the University of Cambridge (LLM and PhD) and at the University of Milan (LLB). He is a non-practising member of the Bar of England and Wales.
Massimo's research is in general international law, with a special focus on international dispute settlement, sources, law of the sea, and the interaction between international and domestic (especially English) law. His book-length works include two completed monographs and two edited volumes, all with Cambridge University Press, and two on-going projects with Oxford University Press. His articles have appeared both in general law reviews, like the Modern Law Review, the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, and the Law Quarterly Review, and in specialist international law journals, like the International & Comparative Law Quarterly, the Journal of International Dispute Settlement, and the Leiden Journal of International Law. He sits on the editorial board of Ocean Development & International Law.
Academic qualifications
LLB (Milan), LLM PhD (Cantab)
Professional bodies/affiliations
- Bar of England and Wales (non-practising)
- American Society of International Law
Selected publications
Monographs
- Custom without the State(Cambridge University Press 2027)
- Maritime Delimitation as a Judicial Process(Cambridge University Press 2019)
Edited volumes
- The Advisory Opinions on Climate Change(Cambridge University Press 2027), with Benoit Mayer
- Balance in International Dispute Settlement – Methods and Standards of Review before International Courts and Tribunals(Cambridge University Press 2027), with Vladyslav Lanovoy
Journal articles
- “Provisional Measures and the End of Prima Facie Jurisdiction” (2025) 74 International & Comparative Law Quarterly 319–348
- “Baseline Preservation as a Response to Sea-level Rise” (2025) 56 Ocean Development & International Law 100–124
- “Reframing the English Foreign Act of State Doctrine” (2024) 87 Modern Law Review 343–370
- “Jurisdiction Ratione Materiae of the International Court of Justice in Compromissory Clause Cases” (2023) 139 Law Quarterly Review 52–78
- “Advisory Opinions of the International Court of Justice in respect of Disputes” (2023) 61 Columbia Journal of Translational Law 67–132
- “Identification as the Process to Determine the Content of Customary International Law” (2022) 42 Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 1040–1066
- “Secret Custom or The Impact of Judicial Deliberations on the Identification of Customary International Law” (2022) 81 Cambridge Law Journal 550–580
- “Judges ad hoc of the International Court of Justice” (2020) 33 Leiden Journal of International Law 467–493 (with Charles N. Brower)
- “Plausibility in the Provisional Measures Jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice” (2018) 31 Leiden Journal of International Law 641–668
- “The Advisory Jurisdiction of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: Comments on the Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission” (2016) 29 Leiden Journal of International Law 441–461