France
Practice Areas
Eduardo Silva-Romero is a founding partner at Wordstone Dispute Resolution, a Paris-based law firm, fully dedicated to the practice of international arbitration.
Eduardo is a member of the Paris and Bogota Bars and has over 25 years of experience acting in investment and commercial arbitrations, with a historic focus on disputes involving States and State-owned entities.
Eduardo has acted in numerous proceedings before arbitration panels worldwide, including advising on matters conducted under the auspices of the ICC, ICSID, PCA, ICDR/AAA and the SCC, as well as in ad hoc proceedings under the UNCITRAL and EDF arbitration rules.
Eduardo is also a seasoned arbitrator, and one of the most in-demand worldwide. He has served as Presiding, Sole or Party-appointed arbitrator in more than 180 commercial and investment arbitrations, under the auspices of a wide variety of arbitral institutions as well as ad hoc proceedings and as member of ICSID ad hoc annulment committees.
Eduardo holds numerous academic positions and lectures on international arbitration at major educational institutions worldwide.
In Colombia, he is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Rosario’s Law School in Bogota.
In France, he teaches “International Arbitration” at Paris II (Panthéon-Assas) University, “Investment Arbitration and International Contracts” as part of the TADS LL.M. at the Paris Institute for Political Studies (Sciences Po), and “French Arbitration Law at the University of Paris-Dauphine (Paris IX).
In Switzerland, he teaches “International Commercial Arbitration Involving States and State Entities” at MIDS in Geneva.
In Italy, he is part of the team of lecturers of the master in Global Litigation and Arbitration Management of the Università degli Studi di Milano.
Eduardo is a regular speaker at numerous conferences, seminars and courses in Europe, the US and Latin America.
Professional Memberships
Chair of the ICC Institute of World Business Law
Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) for Colombia
Former Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration
Former Deputy Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration
Former Vice-President of the ICC Commission on International Arbitration
Former Chair of the Arbitration Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA)
Publications
Eduardo has published dozens of books and articles on international arbitration and other matters, including:
“Chronique de jurisprudence arbitrale en droit des investissements ”, Revue de l’arbitrage, n°2, 2024)
“La presunción de competencia y deber de diligencia de los inversores internacionales”, Revista Jurídica de Arbitraje del Centro de Arbitraje de México, n°2, 2023
“Legal Fictions in the Language of International Arbitration” (Collected Courses of The Hague Academy of International Law, Brill, 2022)
“The Legal Fiction of the Seat of the International Arbitration”, in Achieving the Arbitration Dream: Liber Amicorum for Professor Julian D.M. Lew KC, Kluwer Law International, 2023.
“What places for Compliance in investment arbitration?”, in Frison-Roche, M.-A.(ed.), Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, series “Compliance & Regulation”, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, 2023.
“L’arbitrage d’investissement impliquant les états, une tendance croissante au sein de l’ICC”, in Echanges internationaux, 2022.
“Arbitration, a Form of Life”, in “Arbitration and beyond… Une forme de vie”, Liber Amicorum pour Yves Derains, Éditions A. Pedone, 2021.
“Le règlement d’arbitrage de la Chambre de commerce internationale (CCI) de 2021”, in Revue de l’arbitrage, n° 4, 2020.
“Mining Arbitration in Latin America: Social and Environmental Issues in Investment Arbitration Cases” in The Guide to Mining Arbitrations, Global Arbitration Review, 2019.
“L’annulation des sentences CIRDI impliquant un État d’Afrique”, in Un demi-siècle africain d’arbitrage d’investissement CIRDI, LGDJ, 2019.
France Chapter in “Sovereign Immunity 2019”, in Lexology Getting The Deal Through, 2019.
“Energy Investor-State Disputes in Latin America” in International Arbitration in the Energy Sector, Ed. Maxi Scherer, Oxford University Press, 2018.
“Arbitrating the Conduct of International Investors”, in ICSID Review – Foreign Investment Law Journal, 2018.
“La extensión del convenio arbitral a partes no signatarias en Europa: ¿un enfoque uniforme?”, in Revista de Arbitraje, PUCP No. 7, 2017.
“Some Remarks on the Contribution of ICC Arbitrators to the Development of International Commercial Arbitration Involving States and State Entities”, in International Arbitration Under Review, ICC Publication, 2015.
“Consolidation and Parallel Proceedings”, in Building International Investment Law: The First 50 Years of ICSID, Kluwer, 2015.
“Actualité des Clauses de Stabilisation”, in Le contentieux extractif, ICC Publications, No. 770F, 2015.
Expert in these Jurisdictions
France, Europe, Latin America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish, French and Portuguese
Industry Sector Expertise
He has extensive experience in all areas of international arbitration, including post-acquisition, corporate, partnership, construction, oil and gas, mining, electricity and telecommunication disputes.
Work Highlights
- Representing the Czech Republic in four investment arbitrations in the real estate, gaming, telecoms and airplanes sectors.
- Representing the Republic of Poland in two parallel investment arbitrations initiated under the Energy Charter Treaty and the Australia-Poland BIT, arising out of the alleged loss of the claimants’ investments in thermal coal mining projects in Poland.
- Representing the Arab Republic of Egypt in a US$8 billion claim sought by Kuwaiti claimants over a cancelled project to build a new city at the south of Cairo.
- Representing the Republic of Ecuador in ten investment and commercial arbitrations in, for instance, the telecommunication, oil and gas, construction and mining concession sectors.
-Representing the Plurinational State of Bolivia in eleven investment arbitrations (under the auspices of ICSID or under the UNCITRAL rules) and one commercial arbitration involving several sectors, including telecommunications, infrastructure, mining, energy and oil and gas.
- Representing the Republic of Colombia in five investment arbitrations (under the auspices of ICSID or under the UNCITRAL rules) in the mining and telecommunication sectors.
- Representing a group of Costa Rican and Dutch investors against a Central American State in an ICSID arbitration relating to the construction and development of an ecotourist resort.
- Representing a French multinational in a dispute with a Central American state entity in an ICC arbitration related to the construction of a hydro electrical plant.
- Representing a Brazilian company against a Portuguese group of companies in an ICC arbitration arising from fraudulent schemes in the execution of several financial agreements concluded for the financing of a construction project.
- Representing a leading European gas company in its gas pricing dispute against another leading European gas company in a potential ICC arbitration arising from a long term gas supply contract.
- Representing a French fund against a French company in an ad hoc arbitration arising from a shareholders agreement in the food industry.
- Representing a leading American technology company against a South Korean company in an ICC arbitration relating to the softwares of the smartphones.
- Representing a Spanish company against two Peruvian companies in an AAA arbitration related to the breach of a shareholders agreement.
- Representing a BVI telecommunications company and a South Sudanese telecommunications company against South Sudan in an ICC arbitration arising from the termination of their operating license.
