Laura Sinisterra > Debevoise & Plimpton LLP > New York, United States > Lawyer Profile

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has a large team of international arbitration specialists located across its international offices. The practice group evidences a healthy generational spread from prestigious senior figures and seasoned practitioners, through to younger partners, and a deep and specialised associate bench; much of Latin America-focused team is based in New York. The firm has an established record in investor-state and commercial disputes, often representing multinationals in cases against Latin American sovereigns or businesses; it also acts for Latin American entities in cases against entities outside of the region. Multilingual practitioner Dietmar Prager is co-chair of the Latin America practice group and is a recognised leader in international arbitration, notably in investor-state disputes, where he frequently represents investors. Hugely experienced, Mark Friedman is co-chair of the international dispute resolution practice and a preeminent figure in investor-state and commercial disputes; he led on the Perenco Ecuador case, obtaining a record $390m award from the Ecuadorian state. A member of the International Court for Arbitration of the ICC and ‘a very complete lawyer’, New York and Paris-qualified Ina Popova divides her time between the two cities and is particularly noted for energy, mining, and TMT sector disputes. Dual-qualified (Colombia/New York) and a native Spanish-speaker, Laura Sinisterra was raised to the partnership in July 2022; already an experienced practitioner in both investor-state and commercial arbitration, she is praised as being ‘an excellent interrogator of witnesses and experts’. Sinisterra and Prager teamed up to co-lead on both the Freeport-McMoRan & Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde, and SMM Cerro Verde Netherlands, cases against Peru – the former a $1bn+ case under the US-Peru FTA; the latter a $250m+ case under the Netherlands-Peru BIT. London-based Patrick Taylor has a global practice but is increasingly involved in Latin America matters; he has a certain focus on upstream oil and gas, energy and telecoms cases. Up-and-coming figure Guilherme Recena Costa  moved in house as head-of-legal for Latin America at Barrick Gold in October 2022; and senior partner David W Rivkin retired in Febraury 2023 after over 40 years at the firm – he now acts as an independent arbitrator.

Widely considered to rank among the leading arbitration groups worldwide, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s US offering is a key contender for major, headline-grabbing cases across the globe. Equally adept at commercial and investor-state work, the New York-based team is routinely involved in landmark matters—across a comprehensive range of industries—on behalf of both corporate and state clients. Department co-chair Catherine Amirfar brings to bear extensive experience in high-stakes, public international law disputes and successfully represented Italian investors in ICSID proceedings against Albania arising out of the claimants’ investments in a hydroelectric plant and a media company. Fellow co-head Mark W. Friedman additionally co-leads the mining and natural resources practice; he paired up with increasingly prominent arbitration specialist Ina Popova to represent Gramercy Funds Management in a complete win on jurisdiction and merits in an UNCITRAL arbitration against the government of Peru under the US-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (TPA). Other experienced names include Latin America practice co-head Dietmar Prager, who ‘stands out for his decisiveness and sharp intellect’; and Natalie Reid, who co-chairs both the public international law group and the Caribbean practice group. Talented up-and-coming names include next-generation partner Laura Sinisterra and counsel Floriane Lavaud. David Rivkin has retired.