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Episode 17: Sovereigns Series – Key Principles of Investment Treaty Protection

Investment treaties expose sovereigns to significant liability if the rights of foreign investors are encroached on. At the same time, these treaties also grant powerful protections and direct claims to sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) — when they act as foreign investors in other states. In this episode, Andy Moody, partner and head of the dispute resolution practice in London, and Katia Finkel, senior associate in the same practice in London, cover recent examples of SWFs bringing investment treaty claims and how others can obtain access to these protections. The episode also analyzes why investors should consider investment treaties as part of their decision-making process.

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Andy is a partner in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team based in London. He advises clients on international, commercial and investment treaty arbitration as well as in complex, often multijurisdictional litigation, mediations and expert determinations. He also advises clients on issues pertaining to private and public international law. Andy is recommended in Who's Who Legal: Arbitration 2018 and individually ranked in the field of International Arbitration by Chambers UK, who describe him as "a 'superb' practitioner," and "very commercial" and also recognized by Legal 500, who call him "an arbitration doyen."

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Katia is a senior associate in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team, based in London. She advises clients on global dispute resolution strategy and settlement negotiation and acts on their behalf in commercial and investment disputes under LCIA, ICC, ICSID and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. She acts on behalf of governments and private parties in energy, large construction projects and post M&A disputes, where she has extensive experience. Her practice mainly involves multijurisdictional issues and she regularly advises clients on investment structuring and restructuring. Katia completed a nine-month secondment in Shell’s EMENA Litigation Group, working on a number of high-stake disputes. She taught international commercial and investment arbitration at King’s College London for several years and regularly publishes in the field of international arbitration.

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Iris Barsan joined Baker McKenzie in October 2019 after practicing as a lawyer in a Franco-German law firm. Prior to that, Iris worked for several years in the legal department of the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority and as a financial lawyer in a French banking group (insurance and investment banking). Iris holds a doctorate in French and German law, an LL.M. from the University of Cologne and is a former student of the ENA (Willy Brandt promotion). In addition to her practice as a lawyer, Iris is an assistant professor at the University of Paris XII. She teaches company law (French, European and comparative), European business law, financial regulation and personal data and new technologies law.

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Ken Chia is a member of the Firm’s IP Tech, International Commercial & Trade and Competition Practice Groups. He is regularly ranked as a leading TMT and competition lawyer by top legal directories, including Chambers Asia Pacific and Legal 500 Asia Pacific. Ken is an IAPP Certified International Privacy Professional (FIP, CIPP(A), CIPT, CIPM) and a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.

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Wildu du Plessis is a partner and head of Baker McKenzie's Banking & Finance Practice Group in Johannesburg. He also acts as the office's Africa Head. Wildu is regularly ranked as one of South Africa's leading banking and finance and capital markets lawyers and is recognized by Chambers Global 2016 and the Legal 500 2016.

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Michael Fieweger represents private equity and venture capital funds, institutions, family offices and hedge funds and strategic acquirers in their formation and global acquisition and investment activities. Michael has a background in corporate finance, having previously served as a commercial lending officer with a division of JP Morgan Chase in Chicago. He is the chairman of the Firm's Global Private Equity Practice Group.

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Henry Garfield is a senior associate in Baker McKenzie's Dispute Resolution department based in London. Henry's practice focuses on fraud, asset tracing, internal investigations and business crime. He also undertakes general commercial litigation. Henry has just completed an 11 month secondment to the Serious Fraud Office, during which he was the Case Lawyer on an investigation into a £60 million fraud. The investigation involved unravelling trust and company structures in several offshore jurisdictions and has recently resulted in two individuals being charged with fraud and forgery offences.

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Kate Geale is an Associate in Baker McKenzie London office.

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David Hart is a partner in Baker McKeznie's corporate group, based in London. He joined the Firm as a trainee in 2007 and became a partner in 2019. He is a member of the Firm's TMT Industry Group.

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Julian is a senior associate in Baker McKenzie's Financial Services Group in London. Julian advises financial institutions including international and local fintechs, investment and retail banks, asset managers, investment advisers, payment services firms and product issuers on compliance with UK and European regulatory obligations. Julian also has experience in advising on the spectrum of regulated financial services and products including deposit products, payment accounts and electronic money products, consumer credit, insurance, derivatives, managed funds, structured debt and equities. Julian has completed a secondment to UBS AG and Western Union Business Solutions, in their in-house legal and compliance teams. Duties included advising equity derivatives, fixed income derivatives and equities teams on general commercial and regulatory issues. He is currently on secondment from the Australian offices of the Firm and has extensive experience with both Australian and English financial regulation.

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Jennifer L. Klass serves as the co-chair of Baker McKenzie's North America Financial Regulation and Enforcement Practice, which provides clients with a full range of regulatory advice and enforcement counseling. Jen is an experienced financial services regulatory lawyer with particular focus on investment adviser regulation and the convergence of investment advisory and brokerage services. She regularly represents clients before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), both in seeking interpretative guidance and in managing examination and enforcement matters.

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Lawrence C. Lee is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Palo Alto office. Lawrence regularly advises clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions and other complex corporate transactions across a variety of industries, with a particular focus on the technology sector. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Lawrence served as in-house counsel for a San Francisco digital currency exchange where he led all corporate and strategic transactions and investments. From 2015 to 2018, he was selected by California Super Lawyers as a Rising Star in Mergers and Acquisitions. In 2020, Lawrence was selected by Law360 as a Top Attorney Under 40 in the Technology sector.

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Ying Yi is a local principal in the Financial Services Practice Group of Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow in Singapore. She focuses on regulatory and compliance issues in the financial services sector.

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Stephanie Magnus co-heads the Asia Pacific Financial Institutions Group and heads up the Financial Services Regulatory Practice Group in Singapore. Stephanie is ranked Band 1 for FinTech in Singapore by Chambers FinTech 2020. She is also ranked as a Leading Individual for Financial Services Regulatory: Local Firms in Singapore by Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020. She is recognised as a leading lawyer for Banking & Finance: Regulatory in Singapore by Chambers Asia Pacific and Chambers Global 2020. Stephanie was quoted in Chambers Asia Pacific for her "timely, practical and business-oriented" advice, with a "deep understanding of the regulatory regime." She is also recognised as "very business-savvy and brilliant every time," and is admired for her "very strong grasp of the legal issues from both a technical and practical perspective."

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Karen Man is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Financial Services group, leading the non-contentious Financial Services Regulatory practice. Her clients include global, Chinese and local banks, fund managers, brokers/dealers, money service operators and fintech firms. Karen is admitted to practice in Hong Kong, the UK, and Australia.

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Sue is a partner in Baker McKenzie's IP, Data and Technology team based in London. Sue specialises in major technology deals including cloud, outsourcing, digital transformation and development and licensing. She also advises on a range of legal and regulatory issues relating to the development and roll-out of new technologies including AI, blockchain/DLT, metaverse and crypto-assets. Her IP and commercial experience includes drafting, advising on and negotiating a wide range of intellectual property and commercial agreements including IP licences and assignment agreements, long-term supply and distribution agreements. She also assists clients in preparing terms of business and related documentation for new business processes and offerings and coordinating global roll-outs. Sue is also a key member of our transactional practice, providing strategic support on the commercial, technology and intellectual property aspects of M&A transactions and joint ventures, including advising on transitional services agreements and other key ancillary IP and commercial agreements. Sue is ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers for Information Technology & Outsourcing and Fintech Legal and in Legal500 for Commercial Contracts, IT & Telecoms, TMT and Fintech. Clients say of Sue "Sue is outstanding", "She is a really good and very committed lawyer", "Excellent…. Very capable, wouldn’t hesitate to use on IT/TMT/Outsourcing matters." Sue was named in the Standout 35 of the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020.

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Christopher Murrer is an associate in the FinTech, International Tax and Wealth Management practice groups of Baker McKenzie Zurich. He joined the Firm after practicing for seven years as tax and wealth planning attorney in New York and Washington, DC.

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Jonathan chairs the firm's Financial Institutions Global Industry Group and is a partner in the London Dispute Resolution practice. Jonathan has deep experience in advising boards, executive teams and individuals dealing with issues of market integrity, ethics, brand and reputation impact, conduct risk, whistleblowing, market misconduct, systems and controls failings and remediation, public statements and investor relations, financial crime, fraud, regulatory investigation and enforcement, public policy, public law and civil and criminal litigation. Jonathan's substantial in-house experience delivers a highly strategic and commercial focus aimed at re-establishing confidence in the brand and individuals. Jonathan joined Baker McKenzie from Barclays Bank PLC. Spanning a decade of unique pressure in the financial sector amidst the global financial crisis, he led the global litigation, investigations and enforcement function and established the bank's financial crime legal team. Jonathan was responsible for a series of high-profile regulatory and criminal investigations in EMEA, the US and Asia Pacific regions and led a significant portfolio of wholesale and retail litigation. Supporting the bank's risk and compliance functions, he implemented and improved systems and controls in respect of money laundering, bribery and corruption, fraud and international sanctions. Jonathan worked with UK and US law enforcement and government intelligence agencies on counter-terrorism, organised crime and other domestic and international security initiatives. Jonathan is the contributing author to a number of leading legal and sector publications, including: Banks and Financial Crime: International Law of Tainted Money (Oxford University Press 2008, 2016); Global Investigations Review - The Evolution of Risk Management in Global Investigations (GIR 2016, 2017, 2018); and Risk.net's annual Top 10 Operational Risks (2018-2022).

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Martin Tam is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Hong Kong office and a member of the Firm's Financial Services Practice Group. He also serves as co-chair of the Asia Pacific Insurance Group.

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Eva-Maria is a partner in our Austrian corporate / M&A group and a member of our global sustainability practice. She acts as global lead sustainability partner for our financial institutions industry group, heads Baker McKenzie's capital markets practice in Austria and is a member of our EMEA steering committee for capital markets. Eva-Maria is a dual-qualified lawyer, admitted to practice in Austria and New York. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie's Vienna office in 2008, Eva-Maria worked in the New York, Paris and Frankfurt offices of a well-known US law firm.

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Charles Thomson is a partner and solicitor advocate in Baker McKenzie’s Dispute Resolution Practice Group in London. He co-manages the Business Crime Unit, and is part of the Financial Institutions Disputes, Contentious Trusts and Compliance and Investigations Groups. Charles joined the Firm as a trainee in 2002, and concurrently spent three months on secondment as a judicial assistant at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Civil Appeals Division. A solicitor advocate since 2007, Charles appears as an advocate in all Higher Courts in England and Wales. Chambers and Legal 500 both commend Charles for his legal practice. Charles is also listed as a Rising Star in Litigation by Legal Week.

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