Expertise
Ben specialises in international commercial and investment treaty arbitration. He has acted as counsel or tribunal secretary in complex, high value international disputes concerning matters including power projects, oil and gas exploration, mining, maritime infrastructure, shipping, post M&A disputes, construction and manufacturing. He acts typically for multinational corporations, sovereign States or State-owned entities and high net worth individuals. His experience includes arbitrations conducted under a wide range of ad hoc and institutional arbitration rules, seated in various jurisdictions and subject to numerous applicable laws. He is recommended in the Legal 500: International Arbitration.
Prior to joining Addleshaw Goddard, Ben practised at leading international arbitration firms in London, Brussels and Paris. He has acted as legal assistant to a leading arbitrator, and has also worked in the Appeals Chamber of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. He has lectured LLM students on international investment law at the University of Bedfordshire, and is a contributor to jusmundi.com, Queen Mary, University of London's International Arbitration Case Law Project, and investmentclaims.com (Oxford University Press). Ben holds an LLM in public international law from the University of Leiden and an MA in law from the University of Cambridge. He is qualified to practice in both England & Wales and New York.
- Experience
Ben's experience includes:
- acting for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in an arbitration brought by a Saudi investor under the OIC Investment Agreement, relating to gas tariffs applicable to a steel production facility and with an approximate value of USD 420m
- acting for a British investor in an arbitration brought under the Energy Charter Treaty against a Central Asian state concerning an investment in the oil and gas sector
- acting for the international contractor in an ICC arbitration against an Eastern European state entity concerning a major road building project, under the FIDIC 'pink book' standard contract and with an approximate value of EUR 150m
- The Estate of Ms Boonsom Boonyanit v Malaysia: successfully obtaining a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of a Thai national against the Government of Malaysia in an arbitration brought under the 1987 ASEAN Agreement for the Promotion and Protection of Investments
- acting for a shipping company in a successful claim against the Mauritian government under the SIAC Rules, obtaining an award of approximately USD 120m
- advised a West African government in relation to a contractual dispute concerning a power project, with an approximate value of USD 500m
- CEAC Holdings Ltd. v Montenegro: Acted for the claimant in an ICSID arbitration brought under the Cyprus-Montenegro bilateral investment treaty concerning investments made in an aluminium production facility, with an approximate value of EUR 600m
- Evrobalt LLC & Kompozit LLC v Republic of Moldova: Acted for the claimants in obtaining emergency interim relief in proceedings brought under the Russia-Moldova bilateral investment treaty and the SCC Rules in relation to the forced sale of shares in a Moldovan Bank
- Ossama Al Sharif v Arab Republic of Egypt: Acted for the claimant in three related ICSID arbitrations brought under the Jordan-Egypt bilateral investment treaty concerning investments made in port infrastructure projects in Egypt, with a cumulative value of approximately USD 1bn
- Spentex Netherlands BV v Republic of Uzbekistan: Acted for the claimant in an arbitration brought under the Netherlands- Uzbekistan bilateral investment treaty by the Dutch subsidiary of an Indian textiles manufacturer, with an approximate value of USD 100m
- Churchill Mining and Planet Mining v Republic of Indonesia: Acted for the claimants in two arbitrations (heard jointly) under the UK-Indonesia and Australia-Indonesia bilateral investment treaties relating to certain mining concessions, with an approximate value of USD 2bn.
- Professional memberships
- Young ICSID
- Young ICCA
- LCIA YIAG
- ICDR Young & International
- BIICL
- Young ITA
- ICC YAF
- Languages
- French - good command
- Publications
- Minority Shareholders, Jus Mundi Investment Law Wikinotes, 2020
- UK Supreme Court lifts stay of enforcement of ICSID award (Micula and others v Romania), Lexology, March 2020
- Ukraine v Law Debenture: International Politics and Sovereign Debt in the English Courts, Oxford Business Law Blog, November 2018
- The Meaning of "Seat" in Investment Treaties' Definitions of "Investor", International Arbitration Law Review, 2017 Vol. 20 Issue 1 (with E Dzhazoyan)
- The Aftermath of the Hague District Court Judgment: Are the Yukos Shareholders Now Shut out from Enforcing the ECT Awards through the English Courts? European Investment Law and Arbitration Review, Vol 1 (2016) (with E Dzhazoyan)
- Case Note: Tidewater et al. v Venezuela, Journal of Damages in International Arbitration, 2015, Vol 3, No 1
- Case Note: Khan Resources Inc. v Mongolia, Journal of Damages in International Arbitration, 2015, Vol 2, No 2 (with S Vasani)
