Arbitrators

A shareholder dispute between members of a well-known retail company, arbitrated under the UNCITRAL Rules (led by David Davies KC, instructed by Hogan Lovells)

ICC arbitration arising out of alleged breaches of contracts for the supply of oil (sole counsel, instructed by Withers LLP)

LCIA arbitration under a $300m facility agreement

4-week arbitration between ferry companies under a share-sale agreement governed by both Greek and Italian law, with complex choice-of-law issues arising from the interaction between them (led by Roderick Cordara KC and Christopher Smith KC, instructed by BDM Law LLP)

JAMS arbitration under a contract for financial services (sole counsel)

Ad hoc arbitration concerning breaches of a contract for the construction of solar panels (led by Hugh Mercer KC and Iain Quirk KC)

Ad hoc arbitration under a shareholders’ agreement of claims of unfair prejudice (led by Paul McGrath KC and James Willan KC, instructed by Elborne Mitchell LLP)

Related court applications
PJSC VTB Bank v Mejlumyan [2021] EWHC 1386 (Comm): claim for an anti-suit injunction arising out of a pledge agreement in support of a facility agreement between VTB and a mining company (led by Vernon Flynn KC, instructed by King & Spalding)

Soletanche Bachy France SAS v Aqaba Container Terminal (Pvt) Co. [2019] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 423: challenges under sections 67 and 68 of the Arbitration Act to an award in an ICC arbitration (led by David Foxton KC and Iain Quirk KC, instructed by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP)

Erdenet Mining Corp. LLC v ICBC Standard Bank plc [2017] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 25: LCIA arbitration and Commercial Court proceedings under a guarantee and an indemnity, arising out of a banking fraud and giving rise to the first successful application under section 70(7) of the Arbitration Act 1996 for security for the amount payable under an arbitral award (led by David Joseph KC and Edward Brown KC, instructed by Clifford Chance LLP)

Advice to award creditor on questions of public international law arising in the enforcement of an arbitral award (led by Malcolm Shaw KC)

Advice to award creditor on enforcement of an arbitral award and foreign judgment obtained against a state (led by Hugh Mercer KC, instructed by Fladgate LLP)

Stephen is a visiting lecturer in international investment arbitration at King’s College London. His article ‘Conflicting forum-selection agreements in treaty and contract’ was published in the International and Comparative Law Quarterly ((2020) 69(4) ICLQ 759) and cited in among others Schreuer’s Commentary on the ICSID Convention.

Application to set aside registration of an ICSID Award, raising issues about the application of state immunity from enforcement in light of the ECJ’s decision in Achmea (led by Huw Davies KC, instructed by Simmons & Simmons)

Advising an investor as to jurisdictional bases for an investment treaty claim following a change of regime in the host state (led by Sam Wordsworth KC, instructed by Fenwick Elliott)

Merck Sharpe & Dohme (IA) LLC v Ecuador PCA Case No 2012-10: assistant to the tribunal (Sir Frank Berman KCMG KC, Judge Stephen Schwebel, and Judge Bruno Simma) in an investor–state arbitration under the UNCITRAL rules at the Permanent Court of Arbitration (settled)

Advising a UK government department on investment treaty issues arising from proposed regulation of a sector of infrastructure (as sole counsel).

Before coming to the bar, appeared for the investor in a multi-billion-dollar investor–state arbitration under the UNCITRAL rules concerning the supply of natural gas (led by Ben Juratowitch KC)

As part of a team of counsel, advised a Government department on various aspects of international law concerning the protection of investments (led by Jess Wells)

Advising a national regulator on investment-law issues arising from proposed regulation of natural resource extraction (led by Lucas Bastin KC)

Before international courts and tribunals
Advising on issues under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union (instructed by the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office)

Advising a UK government department on investment treaty issues arising from proposed regulation of a sector of infrastructure (as sole counsel).

An interstate boundary dispute (led by Vaughan Lowe KC and Mathias Forteau)

Wightman v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union [2019] QB 199: preliminary reference before the Full Court of the CJEU determining the circumstances in which the United Kingdom could withdraw its notification of intention to leave the European Union (led by Gerry Facenna KC, Morag Ross KC, and Anneli Howard, instructed by Bindmans LLP and Harper Macleod LLP)

Before domestic courts
Heathrow Airport Ltd v HM Treasury [2021] EWCA Civ 783: judicial review of the withdrawal of VAT-free schemes, alleging breaches of WTO law (one of The Lawyer’s ‘Top 20 cases of 2021’, led by Eleni Mitrophanous KC, Naina Patel, and Raj Desai, instructed by HMRC)

Crane Bank Ltd v DFCU Bank Ltd: claim by a Ugandan bank alleging breach of trust and fiduciary duty by the Bank of Uganda and a conspiracy by the defendants, raising issues of foreign act of state (led by Ricky Diwan KC, instructed by Addleshaw Goddard LLP)

Application to set aside registration of an ICSID Award, raising issues about the application of state immunity from enforcement in light of the ECJ’s decision in Achmea (led by Huw Davies KC, instructed by Simmons & Simmons)

Advisory
Advising a UK government department on investment treaty issues arising from proposed regulation of a sector of infrastructure (as sole counsel).

Advice on questions of public international law arising in the enforcement of an arbitral award (led by Malcolm Shaw KC)

Advice concerning issues of state succession (led by Sir Frank Berman KCMG KC)

Career
2021 Attorney General’s London ‘B’ Panel of Junior Counsel
2020 Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Government
2020 Attorney General’s Public International Law ‘C’ Panel
2019 Attorney General’s London ‘C’ Panel
2016 Tenant at Essex Court Chambers
2015 Advocate at the Scottish bar
2014–15 tutor in public international law, University of Edinburgh
2014 Juriste in public international law team, Freshfields, Paris
2013–14 Judicial assistant to Lord Kerr, Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and Judicial Committee of the Privy Council; tutor in public international law, King’s College London

Education
2013 LL.M., Yale Law School
2012 B.C.L., Lincoln College, Oxford
2011 M.Sc. (philosophy), University of Edinburgh
2008 LL.B., University of Glasgow

Awards
2014 Lord Reid and Faculty of Advocates scholar (for pupillage at the Scottish bar)
2012 Fulbright scholar
2012 Shearman & Sterling mooting trophy, University of Oxford
2011 Runner-up, Times Law Awards
2008 Dean’s Cup, University of Glasgow

Chapter in Company Directors: Duties, Liabilities, and Remedies (4th edn, OUP 2024)

‘Conflicting forum-selection agreements in treaty and contract’ (2020) 69(4) ICLQ 759

Chapters on ss 67 and 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996 in Bullen & Leake & Jacob’s Precedents of Pleading (19th edn, Sweet & Maxwell, 2019)

‘No consensus on consensus’ (with L Wildhaber & A Hjartarson) (2013) 33 HRLJ 248