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

In the ultimate accolade, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP‘s international arbitration team is commended as having ‘no weak link’. As one of the largest dedicated groups in the market, the New York-based practice fields an impressive combination of senior specialists together with next-generation partners; all of whom bring to bear experience in representing the full scope of clients, including multinational corporations and sovereign states, in cross-border arbitral proceedings. A regular fixture on commercial, investment treaty and public international law-related matters, the group is a destination practice for complex cases under all major institutional rules. Co-chairing both the international dispute resolution and public international law departments, Catherine Amirfar enjoys a prominent global reputation for her record in landmark disputes. Amirfar recently paired up with Ina Popova to represent the Republic of Iraq in an ICSID case brought by Orange Telecom under the France-Iraq bilateral investment treaty (BIT), among other proceedings. Mark W. Friedman, who splits his time between New York and London, is sought after for his expertise in complex mining and natural resources cases; he teamed up with Latin America practice co-chair Dietmar Prager and Caribbean practice co-chair Natalie Reid to successful represent Tethyan Copper Company in its $6bn arbitration win against the Islamic Republic of Pakistan–the second-largest ICSID award ever rendered. Seasoned litigator David W. Rivkin is also widely recognized as a leading light, while newly promoted partner Laura Sinisterra and counsel Floriane Lavaud are highly regarded up-and-coming names.

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.