Laurence Franc-Menget, Avocat à la Cour and Of Counsel in Herbert Smith Freehills' Paris office, has published an article in the International Business Law Journal, examining the impact of the Arab Spring on international arbitration. The article considers a tentative… Read more

On 3 December 2016, Morocco and Nigeria signed a new bilateral investment treaty (the "BIT"), with the overarching aim of strengthening "the bonds of friendship and cooperation" between the two States.  The BIT (available here) is yet to be ratified… Read more

Angola has become the 157th Contracting State to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards. On 6 March 2017, Angola deposited its instrument of accession to the Convention with the UN Secretary General.  Under… Read more

The UK Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal decision requiring Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation ("NNPC") to provide US$ 100m in security while the case was remitted to the Commercial Court to decide on IPCO (Nigeria) Limited's ("IPCO") challenges… Read more

South Africa’s draft regulations for investor-state mediation require refinement to work effectively with international arbitration. Interested parties have until 28 February 2017 to comment on draft Regulations on Mediation Rules (Regulations) published by South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has published an updated second edition of our Guide to Dispute Resolution in Africa, a publication summarising the key dispute resolution procedures and trends in each of Africa's 54 diverse jurisdictions. Since its publication in 2013, the first edition of the Guide has… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills is delighted to invite clients to the London launch event of the second edition of our Guide to Dispute Resolution in Africa. ... Read more

Angola has ratified the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.  Its ratification was endorsed domestically via resolution No. 38/2016, published in the Official Gazette of Angola on 12 August 2016. Under Article XII(2) of… Read more

In a highly unusual decision, the Cour Commune de Justice et d'Arbitrage (CCJA), the court created by the Organisation pour l'Harmonisation en Afrique du Droit des Affaires (the Organisation for the Harmonisation of Commercial Law in Africa or OHADA) Treaty,… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills is pleased to announce that it will be adding to its global practice with the opening of offices in Johannesburg and Dusseldorf and the hire of three new partners, including two experienced arbitration practitioners.  The global footprint… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills is pleased to announce the launch of The Global Pound Conference (GPC) Series 2016-17. The aim of this ambitious worldwide conference series is to build a global conversation about the current landscape of civil and commercial dispute resolution and how… Read more

This 1½ day East African Oil and Gas conference in Nairobi provides a unique forum for an engaging and interactive legal discussion on the state of play and road ahead for the oil and gas sector in East Africa. The… Read more

On March 30th and April 1st, Brazil signed, respectively, with Mozambique and Angola, two Investment Cooperation and Facilitation Agreements (ICFA’s) – despite a few small differences, the texts are substantially similar – seeking to stimulate investments between it and those… Read more

Today, 3 February 2015, the Democratic Republic of the Congo became a Contracting State to the New Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958. In June 2013, the DRC passed legislation to facilitate its accession to… Read more

Burundi, a state in East Africa, has become the 150th state party to the New York Convention 1958 (the Convention). Burundi made a "commerciality reservation" to the Convention, which means that the Convention will only apply to disputes characterized as… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills has published its latest Sanctions Update e-bulletin, on the latest developments in sanctions regimes in Ukraine, Libya, Central African Republic and Syria. Both the EU and US have introduced limited additional sanctions in light of the current situation… Read more

In an unpublished ICSID decision last month (the Decision), reported in Global Arbitration Review and Investment Arbitration Reporter, the Arab Republic of Egypt (Egypt) successfully knocked out the majority of claims brought by California-based H&H Enterprises Investments (H&H) by way… Read more

On 23 April 2014, the Tanzanian High Court ordered both parties in on-going ICSID arbitration proceedings, Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Limited (SCB HK) and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (Tanesco), to refrain from "enforcing, complying with or operationalising" a… Read more

Tuesday 8 April 2014, 12.30 - 1.30pm BST Drawing together the two strands of our recent webinars on Investment Treaty Arbitration and arbitration in the EMEA regions, this webinar will focus on Investment Treaties and the African continent. Africa is… Read more

On 1 November 2013, the South African Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has released its new "Promotion and Protection of Investment" bill (PPI Bill) for public comment (for a copy of the PPI Bill, see here). The PPI Bill… Read more

Friday 29 November 2013, 12.30 – 1.30pm UK time. ... Read more

Kenyan MPs have voted in favour of leaving the International Criminal Court (ICC). The vote in the Kenyan National Assembly came just before the trials of President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto in the ICC for crimes against… Read more

Herbert Smith Freehills Partners Stéphane Brabant, John Ogilvie and Paula Hodges have published an article in the October issue of PLC Magazine entitled "Dispute Resolution in Africa - The Philosophy of Risk". The article examines the options for resolving disputes… Read more

On 23 June 2013, South Africa served a notice of termination in respect of its BIT with Spain, thus ensuring that the investment treaty will terminate on 23 December 2013. Pursuant to Article XII of the BIT, the treaty entered… Read more

The Court of Appeal of the Lagos Judicial Division recently issued a pro-arbitration decision holding that courts may only intervene in arbitral proceedings where specifically permitted by Nigeria's arbitration law and set aside an injunction obtained ex parte by Nigeria's… Read more

On 16 April 2013, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the International Court of Justice (the "ICJ"), issued a judgment determining the course of the frontier between Burkina Faso and Niger. This decision has settled a decades-old dispute… Read more

On Thursday 16 May 2013 at 12.45 - 1.45pm (BST) Herbert Smith Freehills will deliver a live audio webinar entitled: "Deals and Disputes in Africa: Latest Trends, Practical Workarounds and Handling Risk". Partners in our leading Africa practice have over… Read more

On 19 March 2013, at a seminar in London attended by over 150 delegates, specialists from across our award-winning Africa practice addressed latest trends, practical workarounds and handling risk in Africa. At the event, Herbert Smith Freehills launched its groundbreaking… Read more

On 1 October 2012, the United States Supreme Court will hear further arguments in the case of Kiobel v Royal Dutch Petroleum Co, bringing the issue of business and human rights to the fore and raising the question of how… Read more