Melissa Stear Gorsline

Melissa Stear Gorsline was counsel in some of the earliest and most cutting-edge investor-State arbitrations in ICSID and UNCITRAL history, with a focus on public international law and treaty-based arbitration. Melissa played an integral role in some of the first international investment arbitrations brought pursuant to Chapter Eleven of NAFTA in the late 1990s. Since then she has handled numerous additional treaty-based investment arbitrations, including those setting important legal precedents on the rules of treaty succession, the scope of the "illegality" defense, and the standard for “causation” under international law. Melissa has significant experience representing corporate clients and states in claims involving denial of justice, denial of fair and equitable treatment, nationalistic discrimination, expropriation, and umbrella clause (contract) violations, as well as all manner of jurisdictional objections and merits defenses. She also has substantial experience in international commercial arbitration, enforcement actions, and cross-border litigation.