Wordstone Dispute Resolution

Firm Details :

Managing partners: Eduardo Silva Romero, José-Manuel García Represa

Number of partners: 3

Number of other fee-earners: 10

International offices: Bogotá, London

Languages: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Romanian and Catalan

Firm Overview :

Wordstone Dispute Resolution AARPI is a boutique law firm dedicated to international arbitration.

Led by founding partners Eduardo Silva Romero and José Manuel García Represa, Wordstone delivers legal representation of the highest quality in complex international disputes, including commercial arbitrations, investor-State arbitrations and arbitration-related litigation before a wide-range of institutions, including ICC, ICSID, PCA, LCIA, ICDR and SCC as well as ad hoc arbitration.

Eduardo Silva Romero and José-Manuel García Represa, together with partner Catalina Echeverri Gallego, Of Counsel Audrey Caminades and a team of 10 lawyers, represent sovereign states and state-owned enterprises, investors and businesses of every size, in treaty and contract-based arbitrations as well as related litigation around the world.

With main office in Paris, and additional desks in London and Bogotá, Wordstone lawyers operate globally, spanning diverse jurisdictions, arbitral institutions, and industry sectors, providing specialised services in multiple languages.

Over the years, Wordstone’s diverse and technically gifted legal team has played a pivotal role in securing landmark awards and decisions for States and State-owned entities. Wordstone lawyers acted (and still acts) as counsel for, inter alia :

• The Republic of Ecuador in several investment arbitrations with foreign oil & gas, mining and telecommunications companies. Wordstone lawyers obtained unprecedented victories in Burlington Resources Inc. v. Ecuador; Perenco Ecuador Ltd v. Ecuador and Occidental Petroleum Corporation v. Ecuador by prevailing on their counterclaims and obtaining substantialreductions of the damages claimed at the stage of the arbitration and annulment.

• The Plurinational State of Bolivia in several investment disputes arising from nationalizations and other measures in the mining, telecommunications, airports, and oil & gas sectors. Wordstone lawyers obtained favourable decisions in South American Silver Limited v. Bolivia;Quiborax v. Bolivia; Orlandini v. Bolivia;Rurelec v. Bolivia, by prevailing on jurisdiction and on the merits, and by obtaining substantial reductions of the damages claimed.

• The Republic of Colombia in various investment disputes. Wordstone lawyers obtained two great victories in Glencore (I) v. Colombia, where the Tribunal dismissed most claims on the merits and awarded only 3% of the amount claimed and in America Movil v. Colombia, where all claims were rejected, with a favorable decision on costs for Colombia.

• The Republic of Guatemala in various investment disputes. Wordstone lawyers obtained two great victories in Iberdrola Energía, S.A. v. Guatemala (II) and IC Power Asia Development Ltd. v. Guatemala where the Tribunal respectively dismissed the Claimants’ claims for lack of jurisdiction and lack of merits.

• The Czech Republic in various investment disputes. Wordstone lawyers secured three great victories in Pawlowski v. Czech Republic, where five out of six claims were dismissed on the merits, and no damages were awarded for the remaining claim (annulment proceedings are pending); WCV v. Capital Ventures v. Czech Republic and A.M.F. Aircraftleasing Meier & Fischer GmbH & Co. KG v. Czech Republic, where both Tribunals dismissed Claimant’s claims in their entirety.

• The Republic of Poland in two parallel PCA-UNCITRAL arbitrations arising out of the alleged loss of the claimants’ investments in coal mines.

• The Republic of Egypt in in an ICSID arbitration under the Egypt-Kuwait BIT, concerning agricultural and urban development projects in the Egyptian desert.

Wordstone also represents private individuals, businesses of all sizes, and States/State-owned entities in commercial arbitrations. Our current cases include, notably:

• Representation of an Ecuadorian national oil company in three arbitrations related to the production of crude through secondary and tertiary recovery techniques.

• Representation of the Algeria-based joint-venture of three major oil and gas companies against a Lebanese and Algerian construction JV in an ICC arbitration arising from delays and costs related to the construction of the base camp of a gas field.

• Representation of the Spanish subsidiary of an American energy company against a Spanish electric utility company in an ICC arbitration arising from a supply agreement for a GCB in nuclear plant.

• Representation of two telecommunications companies in an ICC arbitration against the public authorities of the Republic of South Sudan in a dispute involving contractual breaches of a telecoms license.

• Representation of a French pharmaceutical company against a Swiss pharmaceutical company in various ICC arbitrations arising from license and distribution agreements.

• Representation of two Brazilian Companies specialising in the manufacture and distribution of plastic products against a French banking institution in two ICC arbitrations arising out of a Credit Agreement and a First Demand Guarantee.

Overall, Wordstone’s practice extends to major industry sectors, including energy, oil & gas, mining, construction, engineering, real state, financial services, pharmaceutical/life sciences and telecom.

To visit our Website: https://wordstone.com/about/