GST LLP International Partner Ignacio Torterola invites the Washington Business Journal into his home office during the COVID-19 pandemic. He shares how he is both adapting to the new normal and keeping his international business thriving.  Ignacio is featured, alongside prominent C-level executives in the Greater Washington region, in the paper’s “HomeWork” column.

Citing the unusual environment occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, GST LLP partners Ignacio Torterola, Quinn Smith and Diego Gosis share their cautions with Bloomberg Law regarding the use of executive power in the Defense Production Act. They warn that normal treaty templates including clauses referring to essential security interests may provide administrations the excuse to favor domestic investment over foreign, and that these actions may result in liability.

The Commercial Court in London has requested further details pertaining to a partial ICC award won by an Australian mining venture against Pakistan as corruption allegations continue to be invoked. Christopher Hancock QC of Twenty Essex chamber appeared on behalf of Balochistan, while GST LLP acted for the provincial government there and as co-counsel for Pakistan.

Ignacio Torterola of GST LLP cites Gratitude as his “CEO Hack”, in a list of tips collected by CEO Blog Nation, reporting that “Showing gratitude for every individual’s unique efforts has opened countless doors, both personally and professionally.”

GST LLP partners Diego Gosis, Ignacio Torterola and Quinn Smith contribute an article to Law360’s Expert Analysis column that suggests that lessons for responding to Covid-19 may be learned from Argentina’s financial crisis. Refering to the “doctrine of necessity” that permits emergency action taken by states to ameliorate crises, the attorneys suggest that abandonment of international commitments is unwise, as is the preferential treatment of domestic investors over foreign investors.

The dual Venezuelan-Spanish nationality of claimants compelled an UNCITRAL tribunal to decline jurisdiction. GST LLP partners Ignacio Torterola and Diego Gosis noted that the decision, the third rejecting a claim of double nationals is “fundamental”, and that it provides “useful guidance” on obtaining dispute resolution.

GST LLP Partners Quinn Smith, Ignacio Torterola and Diego Gosis report that they are pleased with the “amicable resolution” of a dispute between Pakistan, their client, and Turkish energy company Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim AS over their corrupt dealings to obtain a contract for a barge-mounted rental energy project in Karachi.

GST LLP is pleased with an apparent settlement and termination of litigation between Pakistan and Turkey achieved by the two governments over a dispute regarding the lease of floating power plants by Turkish company Karkey to Pakistan during an energy crisis in 2006

Pakistan, represented by GST LLP, negotiates a settlement with a Turkish energy company which will avoid their paying any part of an ICSID award worth US$1 billion.

GST LLP will defend Pakistan in an enforcement action against mining company Tethyan. An ICSID tribunal had orginally found that Pakistan unlawfully denied Tethyan a lease to mine copper and gold in Pakistan, but Pakistan alleges bribery and corruption of officials.

CIAR Global revisits PCA Case No. 2015-30, Venezuela against Clorox España. GST LLP represented Venezuela in winning an arbitration award of $4.6 million USD.

Ignacio Torterola, Argentina’s former ICSID liaison, joins Gomm & Smith, now branded as GST LLP and expanding its practice to Washington, D.C., where Torterola will be based. He joins Argentine colleague Diego Gosis there, and he brings three substantial treaty arbitration cases with him, for which he acts on behalf of Venezuela. Torterola spent nine years at Argentina’s Treasury Attorney General’s Office and five years heading the state’s ICSID office in the Argentine Embassy in Washington.