Stephen Donnelly

Stephen accepts arbitral appointments in disputes ranging across the breadth of commercial and shipping law, international investment law, and public international law with experience arbitrating under among others the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, UNCITRAL, and LMAA Rules. Stephen is on the DIAC Arbitration Court List and is a member of the LCIA Users’ Council, Young ICSID, and the ICC Young Arbitration and ADR Forum. He is  also a visiting lecturer in international investment arbitration at King’s College London and a member of the board of the Young Public International Law Group

He has been described in recent directory editions as ‘an exceptional junior’, ‘wise beyond his years and an intellectual powerhouse’, ‘first rate and very hard working’, with ‘remarkable research and drafting skills’ and ‘the ability to fit in and get on with a wide spread of individuals’, who ‘inspires confidence as a safe pair of hands’.

Before beginning his arbitration practice, Stephen studied law at Glasgow, Oxford, and Yale (as a Fulbright Scholar), was judicial assistant to Lord Kerr in the Supreme Court of the UK, and served as assistant to the Tribunal (Sir Frank Berman KCMG KC, Judge Schwebel, and Judge Simma) in Merck v Ecuador PCA Case No. 2012-12.

He is also qualified at the bar in Scotland, a mixed common–civil law jurisdiction, and able to draw on that experience in arbitrations under civilian legal systems.

Stephen is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of several other languages, including Spanish and Arabic (Levantine).

 

 

Naomi Hart

Naomi has a diverse practice in international, commercial, public and human rights law. She was identified as one of the Hot 100 by The Lawyer in 2023. She has appeared in the major directories for several years, with listings in Public International Law, International Arbitration, and International Human Rights Law.

Naomi’s commercial practice encompasses civil fraud, conflict of laws, shipping and general commercial disputes. She acts as junior and sole counsel, having recently appeared in the Court of Appeal, the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division and the King’s Bench Division (including the Administrative Court). She has also been involved in cases before the courts of the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Mauritius, Sweden, Türkiye, Norway, Australia and Malaysia (among others). Her commercial arbitration experience includes proceedings under the DIFC, LCIA, ICC, PCA, SCC, ICSID, UNCITRAL and LMAA Rules.

Naomi has an extensive practice in public international law. She has acted in six cases before the International Court of Justice as well as in proceedings before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the European Court of Human Rights, and the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization. She is routinely involved in cases before English and foreign domestic courts which involve questions of public international law as well as in investor-State disputes. Across this range of cases, she has advised and acted for governments, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and private parties on matters relating to territorial delimitation, self-determination, the law of the sea, occupation of territory, war crimes, genocide, privileges and immunities, climate change, international administrative law, sanctions, international trade law, the act of State doctrine, and inter-State espionage. She also has a wide human rights practice before English, international and foreign domestic courts, much of which is pro bono.

Naomi attained a doctorate from the University of Cambridge on the topic of espionage and public international law, for which she was awarded the Faculty of Law’s Yorke Prize for a thesis “of exceptional quality, which makes a substantial contribution to its relevant field of legal knowledge”. She has published widely on human rights, international refugee law, investor-State arbitration and general international law.

In 2020, Naomi was appointed to both the Public International Law C Panel of Junior Counsel and the Attorney General’s London C Panel of Civil Counsel. She is also a Trustee of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and a member of the Bar Council’s International Committee.

Naomi is admitted as a solicitor in New South Wales. At the University of Sydney, she received First Class Honours in her Law degree (ranking second in her year) and the University Medal and First Class Honours in History (ranking first in her year).

Benedict Tompkins

Benedict is described in the 2024 edition of the Legal 500 as an “up-and-coming arbitrator” and is actively building his tribunal practice alongside his work as counsel in substantial commercial and Investor–State arbitrations.

Benedict has sat as a sole arbitrator and as a party-appointed arbitrator in disputes worth up to c. $6 million, seated in London (ICC Rules) and Paris (UNCITRAL Rules / PCA).

As counsel, he has experience of disputes arising under the ICSID, ICC, LCIA, HKIAC, SIAC, LMAA, ICDR, DIAC and UNCITRAL Rules, and at all levels of the English courts. Prior to his call to the bar in England and Wales, Benedict gained substantial experience as a tribunal assistant / secretary in proceedings under all major institutional rules.

He prides himself on working efficiently and is able to provide substantial availability for tribunal appointments, including in particular delivery of awards within agreed (and, if necessary, urgent) timeframes.

He graduated first in his year from the Universities of Auckland and Cambridge.