International Arbitration

Energy and Infrastructure disputes focus

Mishcon de Reya has a wealth of experience acting on complex and high-value disputes in the energy sector, representing clients across the oil & gas, renewables, and power sectors. We have acted in disputes relating to offshore windfarms, solar projects, and power stations, combining an understanding of the technical issues that arise in large-scale projects with the advocacy experience to best protect our clients' position. In the oil & gas sector, our lawyers have a deep understanding of the business and operations side of the industry.

Our expertise extends to disputes across the value chain, encompassing upstream, midstream, and downstream disputes relating to all aspects of the industry, such as PSCs and JOAs, energy services and contracting, offshore construction, oil trading, gas supply contracts, LNG sales contracts, pipeline disputes, royalties, pre-emption rights, accounting issues, and sale and purchase/M&A disputes. Lawyers in our international arbitration team are members of the Energy Arbitration Club and other energy-focussed organisations.

Tech and IT Projects focus

Our Projects team has significant experience in assisting clients with resolving complex and business critical project disputes.

Leveraging our sector-specific industry knowledge and expertise allows us to better understand the risks, technical, regulatory and commercial aspects of projects across a range of sectors. Our experts are able to offer legal support through the entire lifecycle of large, complex IT and construction or infrastructure projects, many of which have arbitration dispute resolution mechanisms. 

As a result, we are well-equipped to assist clients in dealing with and avoiding arbitration in large project disputes, as well as implementing solutions to allow projects to continue even where relationships fray or break down.

Construction Arbitration

Construction Arbitrations require specific understanding of the technical background to your project, and the intricacies of both construction and arbitration law. Our Construction team draws on its considerable experience of advising on construction projects all over the globe to provide advice which goes beyond the basic legal position. Instead, we advise on the interaction between the law, the commercial background and the technical position to give you robust strategic advice to achieve your objectives for the project.  

We have considerable experience of all aspects of construction disputes and have been involved in numerous arbitrations concerning issues such as defective works, extensions of time, contractor insolvency, variations and loss and expense. We offer advise during the construction phase of a project to help you keep the project on track, avoid issues escalating and to put you in the best position should a dispute be unavoidable. After completion of the project, we can assist with negations on final payments and the rectification of defects. In all cases, we put your commercial objectives at the centre of our strategy to achieve the best outcome for your business.

Private Wealth Arbitrations

For our high-net-worth families and family business clients, the use of arbitration can often be preferable to litigation.

The increased use of family charters, robust shareholder agreements and transparent succession planning should serve to reduce the likelihood of issues arising – but if they do, arbitration is fast becoming a strong contender as the dispute resolution mechanism of choice for our high net family and family office clients.

These private clients appreciate the confidential nature of arbitration, our in-house arbitration expertise, coupled with the flexibility that arbitration brings to complex family and trust structures. Our team of private commercial disputes lawyers specialise in arbitrations for private clients. For obvious reasons, these disputes are discrete, confidential and private.

Arbitration Injunctions, Asset Tracing and Award Enforcement

Even before arbitration is commenced, potential claimants must investigate the asset position of their intended defendants, and whether steps are necessary to preserve the defendant's assets, so they are available for enforcement at the end of the proceedings. This step (ideally taken before a defendant is on notice of any proceedings) is critical for assessing the commercial viability of any claim and safeguarding your future recoveries.

Our Asset Tracing and Enforcement team is well-placed to assist you in conducting those assessments. Its lawyers (drawn from Mishcon de Reya's renowned Asset Tracing and Civil Fraud groups) are part of the biggest team of international injunction specialists in the UK. We regularly obtain a variety of injunctions in support of arbitration proceedings. These court orders can include, worldwide freezing injunctions (which can be obtained before, during or after an arbitration - to prevent a defendant from dissipating their assets), search and computer imaging orders (to compel access to premises and seize documents or electronic evidence for use in the proceedings), and third-party disclosure orders (to force parties outside the arbitration to provide relevant information and documents). We are adept at navigating the complexities of obtaining these injunctions without notice to the defendants and at very short notice, often when new information comes to light which suggests that assets or evidence are at risk of being concealed, placed beyond our clients' reach or, in the case of evidence, destroyed.

Once you have won your arbitration and are seeking to enforce your award against the defendant, our Asset Tracing and Enforcement team will devise and implement a suitable multijurisdictional enforcement strategy. We routinely work closely with foreign asset recovery lawyers, trusted investigators (including our in-house Cyber Risk and Complex Investigations team), forensic accountants, insolvency practitioners and other experts to uncover and enforce against assets hidden or dispersed across multiple jurisdictions.

Mishcon de Reya is also a founder member of the International Fraud Group (IFG), a network of asset-tracing and enforcement specialists operating in over 55 jurisdictions globally. The IFG network allows us to work with trusted lawyers who have local knowledge to take quick steps in preserving or freezing assets globally, ensuring your interests are protected from the outset, and in some cases before the dispute even starts.

Challenges to arbitration awards

Our multi-award-winning team has cross-jurisdictional experience before Courts and international Tribunals.  We have achieved significant results both in successfully challenging arbitral awards and resisting arbitral award challenges. We’re regularly instructed by lawyers in other jurisdictions who represented parties in English-seated arbitration proceedings, and now wish to instruct English lawyers to advance, or to resist, a challenge to their award in the English Court. 

We recently acted for the Federal Republic of Nigeria in its successful challenge to overturn the colossal US$11 billion arbitral award made against it. In order to do so, in September 2020 we secured an “unprecedented” extension to bring a challenge to the arbitral award on behalf of Nigeria, more three years later than the 28 days normally allowed.  In the landmark P&ID v Nigeria judgment, the Court commended our "expertise and tenacity" which “made the difference in getting to the facts”. Our expert team has won several awards following the judgment, including Most Important Decision at the 2024 GAR Awards, The Lawyer's Litigation Team of the Year 2024 and the FT's Innovative Lawyer Dispute Resolution Team of the Year 2024.  

We also secured victory for our clients, Diag Human SE and its owner Mr Josef Stava, in successfully defending the Czech Republic’s attempt to challenge a US$750m investment treaty award in favour of our clients at first instance (having also successfully acted in the underlying arbitration itself), and continue to robustly defend against the Czech Republic's attempts to appeal that decision.

Maritime disputes

Nearly 90% of global trade is carried by sea, and this truly global sector gives rise to a broad range of complex legal issues encompassing commercial, private, public, national and international law.

Our Maritime services team act for shipowners, buyers, charterers, financiers, manufacturers and other market participants if a maritime dispute arises to ensure their interests are robustly protected.

We are highly regarded for our expertise in handling complex, high-value international maritime disputes as we combine deep industry knowledge with technical legal expertise. We represent clients both through ad hoc and institutional arbitration under the rules of London Maritime Arbitrators Association (LMAA) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), as well as in court proceedings and using alternative dispute resolution processes, such as mediation.

We advise on disputes involving complex contractual issues, fraud, cargo claims and enforcement actions. This can include the sale and purchase of newbuilding vessels, issues arising from modifications to vessel specifications during construction, and in resolving disputes over the loss and damage to various cargoes.

Commodities disputes

As leading international centres for trade and dispute resolution, London, Hong Kong and Singapore offer world-class courts and arbitration institutions, including the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), the Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration, the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) and the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), and the Grain and Feed Trade Association (GAFTA). Mishcon de Reya is well-placed to advise clients across these jurisdictions, with offices in each jurisdiction and extensive experience handling complex commodities disputes across these major international hubs.

We regularly act for clients in high-value arbitrations and court proceedings involving a wide range of commodities, such as coal, uranium, sugar, wheat, metals, oil and biodiesel. Our commodities experience involves arbitrations under major and niche trade bodies such as GAFTA, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Refined Sugar Association (RSA). We have represented trading companies, manufacturers, banks and insurers in disputes arising from contracts for the sale, purchase and shipment of goods, as well as claims involving production, demurrage, deadfreight, and quality specifications.  

Our expertise also extends to matters involving complex fraud allegations, regulatory issues, and multi-jurisdictional enforcement actions. We have advised on disputes relating to forged trade documents, commodity financing fraud, and phantom shipping, often requiring expert evidence on trade finance and customs laws.  

We understand that commodities disputes can be time-sensitive, making swift action essential. Our team is experienced in securing urgent relief from courts or arbitral tribunals, including orders for immediate delivery or injunctions to prevent the release of goods to third parties.  

We also understand that disputes can be complex, and often involve multiple parties in back-to-back transactions, which can lead to several parallel proceedings in litigation or arbitration. We help clients navigate these complexities, ensuring robust protection of their interests. 

Commodities trading also raises regulatory challenges, such as anti-dumping duties, tariffs under free trade agreements, and international sanctions. These issues frequently overlap with buyer-seller disputes, requiring specialist legal advice. We have an award winning team that offers comprehensive support for all aspects of commodities disputes and regulatory matters.