Overview
Foley Hoag, a top law firm with offices in Boston, New York, Paris and Washington, D.C. has extensive legal experience in the representation of Sovereign States in matters involving public international law. Our attorneys regularly represent sovereign clients in public international law disputes. Our public international law practice includes litigation before the International Court of Justice and the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, representation in inter-State arbitration under the auspices of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and in other international settings, Investor-State Arbitration before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the other principal arbitral fora around the world, and in litigation before the national courts of the United States, France and Belgium.
In addition to representation in adversarial proceedings, our attorneys regularly assist States in the mediation and conciliation of disputes, and in negotiation of agreements with other States and with foreign investors.
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According to Chambers and Partners, “Foley Hoag has one of the world’s most respected and experienced groups of lawyers practicing international law. The firm’s lawyers have unique experience in handling complex state-to-state disputes [and] investor-state arbitration . . . . Foley Hoag has been the counsel of choice for sovereign states on issues such as international treaties, international investment law and dispute resolution, delimitation of maritime and land boundaries, sovereign and diplomatic privileges and immunities, international environmental law, the use of force and the law of armed conflict, international trade and sanctions, and human rights.”
Several of our attorneys, including Paul Reichler and Lawrence Martin, are highly ranked by Chambers Global in the field of public international law and the related area of international arbitration. Paul Reichler has been called “one of the world’s most respected and experienced practitioners of Public International Law”.
In 2016, Foley Hoag won two significant international cases that will have major impact around the world. On July 8 Foley Hoag, in the area of investor-State arbitration, won a successful defense of Uruguay’s strict regulation of tobacco packaging and branding against a challenge by cigarette giant Philip Morris International (PMI) before an ICSID tribunal. Five days later, Foley Hoag won a sweeping victory against China on behalf of the Philippines regarding control of the South China Sea in an arbitration pursuant to Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In recognition of his role in leading these two victories, Paul Reichler was featured in a New York Times profile entitled “Defending David Against the World’s Goliaths in International Court” and named “Litigator of the Week” by American Lawyer, which stated “Paul Reichler has been dubbed Mr. World Court for his dominance at the seat of public international law…But in the past week Mr. World Court became Mr. Arbitration.”
