Experience

• Clean Tech | Renewable Energy

• • Perenco Ecuador in securing an ICSID award against the Republic of Ecuador worth over $390 million plus interest, net of cost recovery and other factors, which is the largest compensation any tribunal has awarded in connection with Ecuador’s Law 42. Ecuador has committed to pay the Award voluntarily, unconditionally and in full.
  • A leading infrastructure and engineering contractor in a dispute under a Construction Management Agreement related to a mixed-use development project in a Caspian state.
  • A U.S. investor in an oil & gas project, including a refinery, oil fields, and licenses, in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Peru.
  • A U.S. energy company and its Central American subsidiary in disputes related to construction of a wind farm in Central America.
  • A Brazilian bank in an ICC arbitration arising out of warranties and indemnities given under a share purchase agreement governed by English law.
  • A South American power company in a dispute arising out of delays and defects in the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in Peru.
  • A Peruvian power company in a dispute arising out of defects in the generators installed in a new dual-fuel power plant.
  • A subsidiary of GOL Airlines in U.S. litigation to enforce a Brazilian arbitral award in a dispute arising from an acquisition.
  • Advice on a potential LCIA claim for breach of contract and misrepresentation in relation to a shareholder agreement between two Argentinian entities.
  • An international oil and gas company in litigation in the Southern District of New York to recognize and enforce an ICSID arbitration award that was rendered in 2012 against a Latin American country.
  • Gramercy Funds Management and Gramercy Peru Holdings in winning a $100 million award in an UNCITRAL arbitration against the Republic of Peru relating to Peru’s agrarian reform bonds, which is the first decision finding Peru liable under the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement and at the time was the largest amount awarded against Peru in any treaty arbitration.
  • Occidental Petroleum Company and Occidental Exploration and Production Company (“Occidental”) in an ICSID arbitration, winning one of the largest ever BIT awards, $1.1 billion ($1.4 billion including interest). The filing of the claim was made two days after Ecuador terminated all of Occidental’s exploration and production rights and seized all of its assets in the country. Ecuador and Occidental have arranged for payment of this award.
  • Occidental Exploration and Petroleum Company against the Republic of Ecuador in an ad hoc arbitration brought under the provisions of the U.S. - Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) using UNCITRAL Rules, involving a dispute over Ecuador's refusal to refund value-added tax (VAT) paid by Occidental on its Ecuadorian investments. The Tribunal issued a unanimous decision awarding Occidental approximately $130 million. The award has been fully paid.
  • Perenco in claiming more than $1 billion in damages in an ICSID arbitration for an illegal expropriation by Ecuador and in defending against environmental counterclaims by Ecuador.
  • Petrolera Ameriven (a joint venture owned by PdVSA of Venezuela, Phillips Conoco and Chevron Texaco) in five ICC arbitrations involving a petrochemical “upgrader” facility in Venezuela, with over $900 million at stake.
  • Two investment funds in a series of disputes relating to an investment in a restructured Brazilian consumer products business. The representation included victory in an ICC arbitration seated in Saõ Paulo and coordination of litigation proceedings in Brazil and elsewhere.
  • Holcim and its subsidiaries, Holderfin B.V. and Caricement B.V., against Venezuela in proceedings before ICSID under the Switzerland-Venezuela BIT and the Netherlands-Venezuela BIT, asserting claims that Venezuela’s nationalization of Holcim Venezuela constituted unlawful expropriation and discrimination. After Holcim filed its statement of claim, the parties agreed on a settlement providing for compensation of $650 million.
  • Verizon Communications and its subsidiary in the sale of shares in Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela (“CANTV”), the largest telephone company in Venezuela, to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela after the Government announced that it intended to assume control of CANTV.
  • EM Limited in obtaining payment in full of an $849 million judgment against the Republic of Argentina arising from Argentina’s default on its sovereign debt, recognized as the 2016 Global Dispute of the Year by The American Lawyer.
  • Autopista Concesionada de Venezuela, C.A. (“Aucoven”) in an ICSID arbitration against the Republic of Venezuela, where the tribunal issued a final award finding liability and damages against Venezuela involving claims arising from the breach of a concession agreement for a toll road in Venezuela.
  • Oy Metsä-Botnia in its $1.3 billion greenfield investment in the Orion pulp mill project in Uruguay and the Case Concerning Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v. Uruguay) in the International Court of Justice, which concerns that project. Argentina commenced proceedings against Uruguay in the ICJ pursuant to a bilateral treaty concerning the River Uruguay, which forms a shared border between the two countries, claiming that Uruguay had violated the treaty by allowing construction of the mill.
  • NML Capital Limited in a request by Argentina to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for provisional measures against Ghana arising from the arrest in Ghana of an Argentine frigate on NML’s application.
  • A U.S. telecommunications company in winning an AAA arbitration against a European telecommunications company relating to an undersea cable in Latin America.
  • Investors in a Mexican business in a shareholder dispute involving contractual and fiduciary duty claims under Texas and Mexican law.
  • An oil and gas company in its successful protection of its ownership interest in a Latin American oil and gas joint venture.