Clara Brillembourg specializes in counseling sovereign States in international disputes against other States, foreign investors and U.S. plaintiffs.
In her public international law practice, she has successfully represented States before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in disputes involving territorial rights, human rights and environmental harm, including Ecuador v. Colombia (concerning harms caused by aerial spraying of herbicides), Georgia v. Russia (concerning ethnic cleansing in Abkhazia and South Ossetia), and Uruguay v. Argentina (regarding international environmental protection and sustainable development). She also has substantial experience counseling States in maritime boundary disputes before the ICJ, UNCLOS Annex VII arbitral tribunals, and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). Recent cases include Ghana v. Cȏte d’Ivoire (ITLOS Special Chamber), Bangladesh v. Myanmar (ITLOS), Bangladesh v. India (PCA, Annex VII), and Nicaragua v. Colombia (ICJ).
Clara has been recognized as a leader in international arbitration by Who's Who Arbitration, Global Arbitration Review, Legal 500 USA and Legal 500 Latin America. She is also ranked among the top 35 women attorneys in international arbitration by Latinvex. In her investment arbitration practice, she offers extensive experience representing sovereigns in investment arbitrations before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and other prominent arbitral fora. She successfully defended Uruguay in an ICSID arbitration brought by Philip Morris challenging the State’s tobacco control regulations.
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Her representation of foreign States also includes domestic litigation before U.S. federal courts involving foreign sovereign immunity, in which she has successfully petitioned for each case to be dismissed in the initial stage of the proceeding.
Clara also offers a unique specialty, counseling States in securing high priority extraditions of individuals from the United States. Her work involves advising States through the process of the presentation of extradition requests, the consideration of the requests by the Departments of State and Justice, and the litigation of the case before U.S. courts. She is currently counseling Peru in the extradition of its former president Alejandro Toledo, to face charges of bribery and money laundering.
Clara is regularly invited to speak on investment arbitration, public international law, and maritime boundary delimitation. She chairs the Rising Leaders Council at the Meridian International Center, which brings together young leaders from the foreign diplomatic community with professionals from the U.S. Government, corporations, multilateral agencies, and media to exchange ideas on international policy. She also currently serves on the Boards for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and for Advancing Girls Education in Africa.
Before joining Foley Hoag, Clara worked in the World Bank’s Environment and African Human Development Departments, focused on the bank’s legal policies on the environment and indigenous peoples, and implementing development projects in Africa.
Specialization in the representation of Sovereign States before the:
- International Court of Justice
- International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea
- International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)
- Permanent Court of Arbitration
- Federal and State Courts in the United States
- Executive and Legislative Branches of the United States Government
