We advise clients on
the full spectrum of public
international law

Public International Law Overview

We offer an unrivalled range of practical public international law experience in the sovereign and commercial sectors. Our team acts for States, private entities and international organisations in contentious and advisory matters all over the world.

We regularly advise on dispute resolution between foreign investors and host States, or between two or more States. We are often called upon to analyse the effect of private and public international law on international commercial transactions in global commercial sectors including project finance, energy, utilities and telecommunications. Our strength lies in combining public international law knowledge with commercial awareness.

We are consulted on every aspect of public international law, including:

  • bilateral investment treaties
  • land and maritime territorial and boundary disputes
  • the law of treaties and treaty interpretation
  • property rights and expropriation
  • the Energy Charter Treaty
  • oil concessions
  • air and water rights
  • treaty negotiations and accession
  • State responsibility
  • choice of law, jurisdiction and enforcement proceedings
  • international maritime law
  • sovereign and diplomatic privilege and immunity
  • project-specific international agreements between host States
  • offshore oil and gas (and other resources)
  • straddling resources
  • transboundary pipelines
  • international human rights law (including its relevance to transnational business enterprises and transnational litigation)
  • State succession issues
  • international environmental law
  • sovereign debt
  • energy, mining and infrastructure projects
  • international trade and WTO law
  • foreign corrupt practices
  • the laws of war
  • economic sanctions

Highlights

Given the sensitive nature of our work, we are unable to identify most of our mandates, even indirectly. These are some of those we are able to highlight:

Representing a State in a case before the International Court of Justice
Representing the Republic of Croatia in an ICSID case brought under a bilateral investment treaty by Erste Bank
Advising a State in relation to two WTO dispute panel proceedings
Advising a State in relation to its submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf
Advising a client in relation to proceedings before the UN Human Rights Committee
Advising a State and assisting in the negotiation of a hydrocarbon unitisation treaty
Advising a group of States from the Americas in relation to a public international law dispute with a regional economic grouping
Representing the Republic of Lithuania in a investment treaty arbitration at ICSID
Representing a European oil company in a licensing agreement dispute with another oil company, in arbitration proceedings at the ICC
Representing a State in the Americas in defending its rights to sovereign immunity in a dispute before Spanish Courts
Advising individuals involved in a UN human rights process
Advising a State in Africa about treaty law relating to declarations and reservations under the Law of the Sea Convention
Advising a State in Asia about maritime boundary issues
Representing an individual pro bono in a claim under the Inter-American Human Rights system
Advising a European power company in relation to an Energy Charter Treaty dispute with a State in Eastern Europe
Representing a European financial institution in an investment treaty claim against an EU State
Representing a State in three State immunities cases before English courts and tribunals
Advising a State in Asia in relation to trans-boundary pollution issues
Advising an individual on various strategies for pursuing a claim against an international organisation, either in domestic courts or before an international tribunal, arising out of the organisation’s involvement in peacekeeping operations, including advising on issues of immunity of international organisations
Advising a major multinational company on the structuring of its investments in Latin America and Africa so as to ensure entitlement to investment treaty protection
Representing a State in defending its rights to sovereign immunity in a dispute before Dutch courts
Representing two Asian subsidiaries of a US Fortune 500 company in disputes with an Asian government under a number of multilateral and bilateral trade and investment treaties
Advising a State in Africa on a maritime territory dispute with its neighbours
Advising a major US multinational company on the legal implications of bilateral investment treaties in relation to an investment in Africa