Mr Patrick Taylor > Debevoise & Plimpton LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

‘A go-to firm for international arbitration‘, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s London group is routinely instructed on high-stakes mandates. Former UK Attorney General Lord Peter Goldsmith KC has longstanding experience in representing private parties and sovereign states in groundbreaking international arbitrations; London and Hong Kong-based Tony Dymond is ‘excellent for construction-related disputes‘; and commercial and investor-state arbitration expert Samantha Rowe and the ‘very impressive‘ Patrick Taylor both work between the firm’s London and Paris offices. Within the firm’s international counsel pool, Gavin Chesney ‘handles very sophisticated commercial arbitration issues‘, while Robert Hoose, Aimee-Jane Lee and Conway Blake are also integral to the firm’s international arbitration offering. Laith Najjar, Shreya Aren, Maxim Osadchiy, Sonja Sreckovic and Monika Hlavkova are the associates to note. In a major boost to the practice Jeffrey Sullivan KC, in July 2023, joined as partner and co-chair of international arbitration in Europe from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

The ‘top-notch‘ emerging markets practice at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has ‘a great group of partners and associates who are diligent, smart, and highly commercial‘. Among them are Geoffrey Burgess, who has an active international M&A practice and frequently handles transactions in Africa, India and Russia/CIS; capital markets partner James Scoville, who recently advised Baring Vostok Capital Partners on an $85m accelerated bookbuild sale of approximately 1.2 million global depositary receipts; chair of European and Asian litigation Lord Peter Goldsmith KC and co-chair of the Africa practice Patrick Taylor, who together assisted Shell Petroleum as claimant in an ICSID case against the Federal Republic of Nigeria concerning breaches of the Netherlands-Nigeria Bilateral Investment Treaty. ‘Super-smart, gracious, natural dealmaker‘ Alan Kartashkin, who previously led the firm’s Moscow office, is now head of the firm’s London-based Eastern European practice. International counsel Vera Losonci focuses on equity and debt offerings, including cross-border M&A deals and corporate governance matters. ‘This practice is exceptional – agile, flexible, resourceful and very collaborative‘, say clients.

‘Continuously demonstrating exceptional legal expertise in public international law‘, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has substantial experience in treaty interpretation and enforcement work before international courts and tribunals. Its enviable track record also includes successfully acting in treaty cases before the International Court of Justice. The practice is additionally experienced in litigating PIL issues before domestic courts. Global Co-chair of the firm’s PIL group and former UK Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith KC, ‘stands out‘; Samantha Rowe is an international arbitration and PIL specialist; and Patrick Taylor‘s experience includes PIL, human rights and investment disputes throughout the world. At international counsel level, Aimee-Jane Lee focuses on PIL work, international treaties and international arbitrations, while Conway Blake is ‘a fantastic legal strategist‘. Associate Monika Hlavkova is also a key team member; and in a major boost to the practice, renowned advocate Jeffrey Sullivan KC joined as partner in July 2023 from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

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.