About Alexandra van der Meulen

Alexandra is Counsel in our international arbitration group. 

She specializes in public international law, investment arbitration, and international commercial arbitration.

Alexandra has acted as counsel for States before the International Court of Justice, including for Chile in its maritime boundary dispute against Peru and in a dispute with Bolivia concerning Bolivia’s claim to sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean.  In 2020, she appeared as advocate for Bahrain in two parallel appeals from decisions of the ICAO Council in cases brought by Qatar against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. 

She has also appeared as counsel in institutional and ad hoc arbitral proceedings, including under the ICC, LCIA, SCC, ICSID, ICSID additional facility, and UNCITRAL Rules. 

Since 2017, Alexandra has been listed as a “Future Leader” in Arbitration by Who’s Who Legal.

She is admitted to practice in Paris and New York and is bilingual in English and French. Alexandra teaches an annual course of seminars on international commercial arbitration at the University of Fribourg, an annual course of seminars on international dispute settlement at Université Paris 5 and is a visiting international law lecturer at King’s College, London. 

Since July 2023, Alexandra is a Vice-President of Paris Arbitration Week.

Recent work

Examples of inter-State disputes

• Counsel for the Republic of Chile before the International Court of Justice in the Peru v Chile maritime-delimitation case.
• Counsel for the Republic of Chile before the International Court of Justice in the case brought by Bolivia involving its claim that Chile had undertaken an obligation to negotiate sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean for Bolivia.

• At her previous firm, Alexandra acted as counsel and advocate for Bahrain before the International Court of Justice in two parallel appeals from decisions of the International Civil Aviation Council in cases brought by Qatar against Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain under the Convention on International Civil Aviation and the International Air Services Transit Agreement.

• At her previous firm, Alexandra acted as counsel for Bahrain in an arbitration commenced by Qatar under the Universal Postal Union Constitution and administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Examples of cases between foreign investors and States 

• Representing the Republic of South Africa in an ICSID-AF arbitration when foreign investors claimed that implementation of its black economic empowerment policies in its mining sector contravened investment protection treaties.
• Representing a multinational energy company in an ICSID arbitration against the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia brought under the Austria – Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia BIT and the Energy Charter Treaty.
• Advising a multinational energy company in an investment treaty dispute under the Energy Charter Treaty, involving the expropriation of assets in the electricity sector.

Examples of commercial arbitrations

• Representing a consortium of two major Asian engineering and construction companies in an Algerian law-governed ICC arbitration against a joint-venture and its shareholders, in relation to claims under an EPC contract for the construction and transfer of a world scale fertiliser plant in North Africa.
• Representing a French confectionary company in an ICC arbitration arising out of the termination of a distribution agreement governed by French law
• Representing a Portuguese company in an ICC arbitration concerning alleged breaches by its joint venture party of a shareholders’ agreement governed by Portuguese law
• Representing a Kazakh company in an SCC arbitration brought by a contractor arising out of two contracts for the manufacture and installation of equipment for use in an oilfield.
• Representing a chemical group in an international arbitration on post-acquisition claims relating to environmental contamination at industrial sites.

Examples of advisory and pro bono work

• Assisting REDRESS in preparing an amicus curiae submission to South African domestic courts concerning the crime of torture under international law and in preparing an amicus submission to the African Commission on Human Rights.
• Advising the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on issues of public international law.