Nigel is a partner in our international arbitration group and is head of both our US and our Latin America international arbitration groups.

He has acted as counsel and arbitrator in over 90 ad hoc and institutional arbitrations, both commercial and investor-state under bilateral investment treaties, with a focus on Latin America.

Nigel has represented states and foreign investors in arbitrations under the auspices of ICSID, the ICC, LCIA, AAA and UNCITRAL, both in English and Spanish. Recent ICSID matters include representing CMS Energy, BG Group plc and National Grid in three separate victories against Argentina as well as successfully defending Pakistan in the case of SGS v. Pakistan. He is currently acting in 10 treaty arbitrations involving Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay and Venezuela. He also represented Telecom Italia in five parallel arbitrations before the ICC concerning the control of Brasil Telecom.

Nigel is President of the IBA Subcommittee on Investment Arbitration, an editor of Arbitration International and a member of the executive of the LCIA Latin America Users’ Committee. He is co-author of Redfern and Hunter on International Arbitration (5th edn, Oxford, 2009), Guide to ICSID Arbitration (2nd edn, Kluwer, 2010), and International Arbitration in Latin America (Kluwer, 2003). He is an adjunct professor of law at the American University in Washington DC. Nigel speaks English, French, Spanish and Portuguese and has law degrees from the University of Exeter (UK) and the Université d’Aix-Marseille III (France).

Contact details

nigel.blackaby
@freshfields.com

  • Washington, DC office
  • 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
    Suite 600
    Washington, DC
    20004-2692
    United States
  • Telephone
  • +1 202 777 4519
  • Fax
  • +1 202 507 5919
  • Paris office
  • 2 rue Paul Cézanne
    75008 Paris
    France
  • Telephone
  • +33 1 44 56 44 56
  • Fax
  • +33 1 44 56 44 00