State-to-State disputes

Our lawyers have represented State clients in disputes before a variety of international courts and tribunals, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), the European Court of Human Rights (EctHR), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body, and in the first ever maritime boundary arbitration under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). We have also represented State clients in a range of public international law cases before domestic courts. Our State clients have enjoyed a positive outcome (win or positive settlement) in all concluded State-to-State disputes in which we have acted.

A number of our State representations have involved disputes over territorial sovereignty, the delimitation of land and maritime boundaries, environmental damage and human rights. We are uniquely equipped to assist with the management, coordination and advocacy of such complex, multifaceted and sensitive cases.

 

Highlights of our lawyers’ experience in State-to-State disputes include:

  • representing the Government of Barbados in its UNCLOS maritime boundary arbitration against the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, under the aegis of the PCA
  • representing Colombia in its case against Ecuador before the ICJ concerning Aerial Herbicide Spraying
  • advising an Asian State in a case before the ICJ relating to sovereignty over small island features
  • advising a Middle Eastern State in the mediation of a land and maritime boundary dispute
  • advising a northern European State in a number of proceedings before the ECtHR and CJEU
  • advising a Balkan State in English court litigation involving the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia
  • advising Somalia in a dispute against Kenya concerning delimitation of a maritime boundary in the Indian Ocean
  • advising an Asian State in an ad hoc arbitration under UNCLOS before the PCA relating to maritime entitlements
  • advising Georgia in a case against Russia before the ICJ relating to racial discrimination