Iain Sandford

Iain’s high-profile successes include:

• Clarifying the rules for agricultural trade: Iain lead a Sidley team to achieve an important win for Brazil’s sugar industry before a WTO panel considering Indian agricultural support to sugarcane farmers and export subsidies for sugar. India and Brazil are the world’s biggest sugar producers, and Brazil’s complaint was joined by Australia and Guatemala, making this a case that defines the “rules of the road” for the global sugar trade.

• Protecting IP in a politically charged context: Iain’s team secured landmark findings concerning the activities of beoutQ, reportedly the world’s worst ever case of broadcast piracy. Sidley developed an innovative strategy to shut down the pirate, combining investment arbitration, WTO proceedings and supporting initiatives under national law in the U.S., EU and other jurisdictions.

• Securing fishing rights: Sidley helped the Faroe Islands to secure withdrawal of EU sanctions imposed in connection with a fisheries dispute concerning Atlanto-Scandian herring. Sidley supported the Faroe Islands in pursuing a strategy involving parallel litigation under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in the WTO. According to Bjørn Kunoy, Professor of International Law and former legal adviser, Faroes Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, “When the Faroes faced economic sanctions, Sidley played a critical role in shaping our international law strategy. The strategy proved its worth when we won an early settlement of the dispute.”

Iain has successfully litigated numerous other international proceedings for clients as diverse as Norway, China, and the Philippines against measures as varied as U.S. and EU anti-dumping laws and determinations, through to WTO-inconsistent criminal prosecutions in Thailand.

Iain is strongly committed to Sidley’s pro bono activities. He is co-leader of the firm’s Emerging Enterprises Pro Bono Program and Trade for Development Initiative. Iain also actively participates in delivering pro bono services within these programs: Iain currently advises Fiji in ongoing Indo-Pacific Economic Framework negotiations; he also recently led a project addressing opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement for the Global Shea Alliance.

• Adjunct faculty, Georgetown University in Qatar
• Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (MCIArb)
• Member of the International Mediation Institute (IMI)
• Member, Australian Capital Territory Law Society
• Associate Member, Law Society of New Zealand
• Active member of the International Bar Association, particularly the Bar Issues Commission Committee on Trade in Legal Services and the Art Law Committee
• Honorary Member, International Customs Law Academy
• Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Canberra (2008-2014)