Biography

Educational/ Current position / Professional Experience

Current position

• Senior Counsel, BSP
• Research Scientist, University of Luxembourg

Education

• PhD, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg (2020)
• LLM in Private International Law and Dispute Settlement, King’s College London (2010)
• LLB Bachelor of Laws, University of Granada, Spain (2008)

Bar Admissions

• Admitted as a lawyer (Abogado) to the Bar Association of Granada, Spain (2008)
• Admitted as a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales, BPP Law School (2013)

Professional membership

Member of the Club Español e Iberoamericano del Arbitraje (CEIA); President of the Luxembourg Chapter of CEIA

Arbitration Experience

As counsel:

• Represented the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima in an UNCITRAL arbitration related to the reconditioning and operation of three sections of the North Pan-American Highway under a concession contract (Rutas de Lima v. Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima)

• Represented a French investor against Hungary in an investment dispute involving state reforms on the taxation of fringe benefits (Edenred S.A. v. Hungary, ICSID Case No. ARB/13/21)

• Represented a Spanish supplier of electrical installations against its German partner in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris arising from the termination of an agency agreement.

• Represented the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima under the CAIP Rules regarding the request for cancelling a concession contract for the construction and operation of the “Línea Amarilla” toll road (Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima v. Línea Amarilla S.A.C.)

• Represented a Colombian oil company in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris in relation to the alleged breach of an EPC contract.

• Represented the Republic of Peru in an ICSID arbitration initiated by a Spanish telecommunication company under the Spain-Peru BIT in connection to tax-related measures adopted by the state (Telefónica S.A. v. Republic of Peru, ICSID Case No. ARB/21/10)

• Represented a Central American State in ad hoc arbitration under UNCITRAL Rules related to the construction of a 40km highway.

• Represented a Mexican State-owned oil entity in enforcement proceedings before Luxembourg courts.

• Represented the Venezuelan government in an investment dispute involving the expropriation of a fertilizer production company (Gambrinus, Corp. v. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, ICSID Case No. ARB/11/31)

• Represented the owners of two jack-up rigs in an ICC arbitration seated in London arising from the alleged breach of a master vessel and modification agreement.

• Represented the Venezuelan government in an arbitration concerning the alleged expropriation of a food manufacturing company (Serafín García Armas and Karina García Gruber v. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, UNCITRAL, Case PCA No. 2013-3)

• Represented the government of Mongolia in an investment dispute concerning a mining exploitation contract.

• Represented Chile in a maritime boundary dispute between before the ICJ.

• Represented an American company in an AAA arbitration seated in New York arising out of a dispute concerning an intellectual property allocation agreement.

As secretary:

• Assisted the arbitral tribunal in an ICDR arbitration arising from an employment-related dispute.

• Assisted the arbitral tribunal in a LCIA arbitration seated in London concerning a contract for the transportation of fuel from Kuwait to Iraq.

• Assisted the arbitration tribunal in an ICC arbitration seated in Paris arising from the termination of an agency and distribution agreement.

Publications and Speaking Engagements

Publications:

• ‘ZAZA OKUASHVILI v GEORGIA, Case V 2019/058, Partial Final Award on Jurisdiction and Admissibility’, (2023) 117 (4) American Journal of International Law 681-689.

• ‘The Fragmentation of International Investment and Tax Dispute Settlement: A Good Idea?’, (2023) 36(3) Leiden Journal of International Law 617-642.

• ‘Injunctions: International Arbitration’, Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (OUP, April 2023)

• ‘The Legality of EU Sanctions under International Investment Agreements’, (2023) 28 European Foreign Affairs Review 95-116.

• ‘Immunity Defences and the Enforcement of Awards in Investor-State Disputes’ in K Gore, K Duggal, E Putilin and C Baltag (eds), Investment Law and Arbitration in Central Asia: Emerging Issues (Kluwer Law International 2022)

• ‘International Investment Law in US Courts’, in H Ruiz Fabri and E Stoppioni (eds), International Investment Law: An Analysis of Major Decisions (Hart Publishing 2022)

• ‘Recalibrating the International Investment Regime through Narrowed Jurisdiction’, (2020) 69(2) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 301-344 (winner of the 2020 ICLQ Early Career Prize)

• ‘Nationality of Claim: Investment Arbitration’, Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law (OUP, September 2019).

• ‘Sovereign Immunity as a Ground to Refuse Compliance with Investor-State Awards: Past Experience and Future Developments’ in K Fach Gómez AM López Rodríguez (eds), 60 Years of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards: Key Issues and Future Challenges (Kluwer Law International 2019)

• ‘Enforcement/Execution of ICSID Awards against Reluctant States’, (2018) 12(3) Journal of World Investment & Trade 307-319 (with Martin Hunter)

• ‘Redefining the Position of the Investor in the International Legal Order and the Nature of Investment Treaty Rights: A Closer Look at the Relationship between Diplomatic Protection and Investor-State Arbitration’ in J Summers and A Gough (eds), Non-State Actors and International Obligations (Martinus Nijhoff 2018)

• ‘Rethinking the Relevance of Customary International Law to issues of Nationality in Investment Treaty Arbitration’ in J Akbaba and G Capurro (eds), International Challenges in Investment Law and Arbitration (Routledge 2018)

• ‘Claims by Dual Nationals under Investment Treaties: Are Investors Entitled to Sue Their Own States?’, (2017) 8(4) Journal of International Dispute Settlement 695-727.

Speaking engagements

• ‘The Assignment of Awards’, Conference on Enforcing Arbitral Awards Against Sovereigns: Recent Trends in Law & Practice, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg, 10 January 2024.

• ‘Use and Abuse of Nationality in International Arbitration’, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London, 21 November 2023.

• ‘Invoking Denial of Benefits Clauses in Wartime: Lessons from the Ukrainian Crisis’, presented at the European Society of International Law (ESIL) Research Forum, 27-28 April 2023, Tartu University.

• ‘The Legality of EU Sanctions under International Investment Agreements’, Workshop on Trade and Security in the EU’s Unilateral Trade and Investment Policy, Utrecht University, 2 December 2022.

• ‘The Implementation and Legality of EU Sanctions against Russian Nationals’, Workshop on From Cradle to Grave – The Policy Cycle of EU Restrictive Measures, Groningen University, 24-26 November 2022.

• ‘Economic Sanctions and International Investment Law: Investor and State Defences’, Conference on Sanctions in the Light of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: What’s New in Law and Practice?, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg, 4 July 2022.

• ‘The Instrumental Turn of Nationality: An Investment Law Perspective’, Workshop on What’s (in) nationality? Citizenship-by-Investment (CBI) and Beyond, Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, University of Luxembourg, 7-8 April 2022.

• ‘Repoliticising Investment Disputes: Is it Time?’, The Seventh Biennial Global Conference of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) on Rethinking Global Economic Governance, Bocconi University, 7-9 July 2021.

• ‘Investment and Tax Dispute Settlement Reforms: Do We Need Fragmentation?, Workshop on Globalization and Digitalization: Interconnections between Taxation, Trade and Investment, Leiden University, 3 June 2021.

• ‘The EU’s Approach towards Investment Dispute Settlement’, 3rd UNCITRAL’s Working Group III Inter-Sessional Regional Meeting on ISDS, Conakry (Guinea), 26 September 2019.

• ‘Sovereign Immunity as a Ground to Refuse the Enforcement of Investment Treaty Awards: The New York Convention and the ICSID Convention Compared’, Conference on 60 Years of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards: Key Issues and Future Challenges, Loyola University (Seville), 4 April 2018.