Matthew Weiniger is a solicitor advocate specialising in international arbitration and public and private international law. He has acted and advised in cases arising from all major industry sectors.
Matthew regularly appears as an advocate before arbitral tribunals in many different jurisdictions. He has experience in arbitrations under the auspices of the ICC, LCIA, ICSID, Zurich Chamber of Commerce and ad hoc under the UNCITRAL Rules and the English Arbitration Act. Many of his arbitrations involve state parties.
Matthew regularly lectures on matters connected to arbitration and public international law. He has recently taught on several LLM programmes at the University of London, and is a Visiting Professorial Fellow in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London.
Together with Laurence Shore, and consultant Professor Campbell McLachlan QC, Matthew has written the first comprehensive textbook treatment of bilateral investment treaties in the modern era. International Investment Arbitration: Substantive Principles was published by Oxford University Press in 2007.
In addition to his arbitration practice, Matthew also represents clients in contentious competition matters. He has experience of anti-trust litigation in the High Court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal and US Federal courts.
Credentials
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Eurotunnel in its successful claim against France and the United Kingdom. The governments were held liable for the costs and expenses Eurotunnel suffered as a result of the security situation caused by asylum seekers from the Sangatte hostel trying to cross the English Channel. The Herbert Smith team was awarded "Litigation Team of the Year" at The Lawyer Awards, 2007
- ICC arbitration proceedings in Paris on behalf of an English fashion brand against a French cosmetics house. The dispute arose out of a contentious termination of a trademark licensing agreement. The amount in dispute was approximately £30 million
- ICC arbitration proceedings in London on behalf of a Belgian investor in respect of a dispute arising out of a concession agreement with a Southern African state. The concession agreement entitled the investor to set up and operate a national lottery. The amount in dispute is over $150 million
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ICSID arbitration proceedings in Washington DC against the Republic of Bolivia on behalf of Aguas del Tunari arising out of the expropriation of a water concession. The claim was brought under a bilateral investment treaty
- ICSID arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Kazakhstan on behalf of a foreign investor (Enrho St) arising out of breaches of Kazakhstan Law on Foreign Investments. The arbitration also includes claims relating to creeping expropriation
- various energy companies on the public international law aspects of transnational infrastructure projects. Issues covered include the terms of Host Government Agreements, the terms of Inter-Governmental Agreements and the capacity of the state to contract commercially
- a UK media company against a claim brought in the High Court arising out of a regulatory finding of a breach of a dominant position
- a Japanese company against a claim brought in the High Court by a customer seeking damages after buying products which were subsequently ruled to have been part of a cartel
commercially
- advising various companies on the strategies to be adopted both during and after behavioural competition investigations in order to minimise follow on damages claims
Doing business globally
Herbert Smith international trade and investment group, (pdf document, 1.4mb)