Trade Law and Arbitration

Trade Law

In-depth experience in negotiation of bilateral and plurilateral Free Trade Agreements

Arbitration

Experienced trade law arbitrator, especially before the World Trade Organisation

Expert Evidence

Provider of expert evidence to governments on trade and investment law obligations

Experienced Trade Lawyer

World Trade Organisation

  • Member of the Pool of Arbitrators of the WTO Multi-Party Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement
  • Panellist arbitrating disputes between Members of the WTO
    – United States – Certain Measures Relating to the Renewable Energy Sector (WT/DS/510)
    – Ukraine – Anti-Dumping Measures on Ammonium Nitrate from Russia (WT/DS/493)
    – EU: Poultry Meat (China) (WT/DS/492)
  • Counsel appearing before WTO panels or WTO Appellate Body:
    – Indonesia – Importation of Horticultural Products, Animals and Animal Products (WT/DS477) (representing New Zealand as adviser)
    – US – Lamb Safeguards (WT/DS/177) (representing New Zealand as Lead Counsel)
    – US – Softwood Lumber – Article 21.5 (WT/DS264) (representing New Zealand as Lead Counsel)
  • Consultations phase of Australia – Apples (WT/DS367) (Lead Counsel)
  • Prepared or supervised preparation of New Zealand third party submissions to WTO panels and the Appellate Body in:
    – Australia – Tobacco Plain Packaging (WT/DS434/435/441/458/467) (panel stage)
    – US – Zeroing (WT/DS322)
    – EC – Biotech (WT/DS292)
    – Japan – Apples (WT/DS245)
    – EC – Geographical Indications (WT/DS174)
    – US – Wheat Gluten (WT/DS166)- Korea – Beef (WT/DS161)

Investment Arbitration

  • President of the ICSID ad hoc Annulment Committee in LSG Building Solutions and Others v. Romania (ICSID Case No. ARB/18/19).
  • Member of the ICSID ad hoc Annulment Committee in Eurus Energy Holdings Corporation v. Kingdom of Spain (ICSID Case No. ARB/16/4).
  • Member of the ICSID ad hoc Annulment Committee in Alhambra Resources Ltd. and Alhambra Coӧperatief U.A. v. Republic of Kazakhstan (ICSID Case No. ARB/16/12)
  • Expert witness for the New Zealand Government before Waitangi Tribunal on investment obligations and interpretation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (WAI 2522)
  • Author of the “International Arbitrations” Chapter of a major New Zealand arbitration text.

Negotiations

  • Managed and supervised legal input into New Zealand’s FTA negotiations
  • New Zealand Legal Counsel for New Zealand-Korea Free Trade Agreement, 2014
  • New Zealand Legal Counsel for the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement among Brunei Darussalam, Chile, New Zealand and the Singapore, August 2004-June 2005
  • New Zealand Legal Counsel for New Zealand-Thailand Closer Economic Partnership Agreement, June-December 2004

Expert Evidence

  • Expert before the New Zealand High Court in New Zealand Steel Ltd v Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs CIV-2019-485-553 & CIV-2019-485-552 in the matter of the exercise of powers under the Dumping and Countervailing Duties Act 1988
  • Witness before the Waitangi Tribunal hearing on investment issues and the mixed ownership model as they relate to the freshwater inquiry (WAI 2358), 2012

Selected Trade Presentations and Publications

  • 2020: “Does International Law have the Power to Stop Trade Wars?” Lawyer Monthly February 2020    https://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2020/02/does-international-law-have-the-power-to-stop-trade-wars/
  • 2019: “Arbitrating International Trade Disputes: What does the Future Hold?” AMINZ Conference, August 2019. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3611374
  • 2015: “Investment Negotiations: Walking the Tightrope between Offensive and Defensive Interests” New Zealand Business Law Quarterly Vol 21 No 4, 277-296       https://insight.thomsonreuters.co.nz/tag/new-zealand-business-law-quarterly
  • 2015, 2017 and 2019 eds: “International Arbitrations” in P Green, B Hunt and T Kennedy-Grant, Green and Hunt on Arbitration Law and Practice (Thomson Reuters)
  • 2014: “Disputes resolution process”, Trade Negotiations in the Twenty-First Century: what’s at stake? A panel discussion to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Completion of the Uruguay Round, Wellington, New Zealand, December 2014
  • 2011: “New Zealand and WTO Dispute Settlement – a Level Playing Field?” Auckland University Law School, August 2011
  • 2010: “Liberal Economics: New Zealand Free Trade Agreements” in B Skulska ed, Proceedings of Conference, East Asian Integration: Myth or Reality? Economic University of Wrocław, 115-130
  • 2006: D Evans & P Ridings, “A Decade of WTO Dispute Settlement: New Zealand’s Experience” (2006) 3 New Zealand Yearbook of International Law 1-15    http://nzlii.org/nz/journals/NZYbkIntLaw/2006/2.html
  • 2005: “The Spaghetti Bowl Effect: Reconciling Different FTAs with Overlapping Parties”, Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law, Annual Symposium, Victoria University of Wellington, August 2005
  • 2004: “WTO Dispute Settlement: A Practical Perspective”, Seminar on International Courts and Tribunals for Practitioners from South-East Asia and the South Pacific Regions, Victoria University of Wellington, July 2004