Global Coordination
Given our in-depth knowledge and many successful appearances before various international courts and tribunals, we view ourselves as international problem solvers, rather than lawyers tied to any one specialism or forum before which we practice law. We field a diverse, multidisciplinary team experienced in international trade and arbitration, and well-versed in ICJ proceedings.
We advise clients on topics including border closures, aviation and navigation, climate change, the international prohibition on torture, disputes over fishing quotas, subsidies to aircraft and agriculture, and issues surrounding high-profile international sporting events.
Complex problems often require multi-forum strategies, combining parallel proceedings before multiple international courts and tribunals. We are well-positioned to develop and implement such strategies, with a strong track record of having done so in geopolitically sensitive situations.
Strategic Advice for Geopolitical Risks
While international law was traditionally called the “Law of Nations,” its importance for private clients cannot be overstated. We are often approached by private clients who ask how a bilateral or diplomatic crisis, or a Member State’s participation in a new international treaty, will affect their business interests.
Our deep experience allows us to anticipate and mitigate geopolitical risks for our clients, particularly by ensuring appropriate contractual or treaty protections. Where geopolitical risk has already materialized, we formulate strategies for our clients to recover their losses, either through litigation in their own name or through legal claims brought by a friendly government.
Representative Experience
- Representing Antigua and Barbuda before the ICJ in an advisory proceeding concerning climate change.
- Representing the African Union before ITLOS in an advisory proceeding concerning climate change and its effects on the marine environment.
- Advising a State on potential accession to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.
- Advising a Member State on a potential State-to-State arbitration under a multilateral treaty concerning the organization of an international event.
- Advising the Faroe Islands in securing withdrawal of EU sanctions imposed in connection with a fisheries dispute concerning Atlanto-Scandian herring. The strategy involved parallel litigation before an Annex VII tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and in the WTO.
- Representing beIN Corporation in an investment arbitration claiming more than US$1 billion against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for unlawfully forcing the Qatar-headquartered broadcaster out of the local market and supporting a notorious broadcast pirate known as beoutQ, including the coordination of a multi-faceted international strategy involving legal proceedings in numerous fora and government advocacy in the U.S. and EU.
- Representing the State of Qatar (Qatar) in an international litigation arising out of neighboring countries’ campaign of coercive economic measures. In one of these disputes at the WTO, Saudi Arabia – Protection of Intellectual Property Rights, Qatar became the first ever complainant to defeat a respondent’s invocation of the WTO’s national security exception in the 70-plus year history of the multilateral trade rules.
