Profile

James Egerton-Vernon has more than 11 years of experience as counsel focused on investor-state and international commercial arbitration and on international litigation. Dual-qualified as an English solicitor and New York attorney and fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and French, James has acted in multiple arbitrations under the ICSID, UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, SCC, and SIAC rules across a range of sectors and industries, including oil, mining, gas, telecommunications, and construction projects.

James is currently advising multiple investors with high-value investment claims against CIS and Latin American states. His prior representations include advising clients with investments in the Venezuelan oil sector, in both English and Spanish, on their claims arising out of unilateral changes to the hydrocarbon regime in that country. Other representative highlights include advising: a Brazilian energy company on a construction dispute with its Italian joint venture partner, a Kuwaiti fertilizer company in ICSID proceedings against Egypt, a Romanian energy company in ICC proceedings against a Russian oligarch, a U.S. energy company in ICC proceedings against its Indian co-contractor, and a Spanish entertainment company involved in Madrid-based LCIA dispute proceedings.

James is included on the roster of arbitrators of the Arbitration Center of the Portuguese Chamber of Commerce, serves as the North America Regional Chair for Young ITA, is a member of many other international arbitration associations, and an assistant editor of ICSID Review. He is a frequent speaker and author on commercial and investor-state arbitration and is an adjunct professor of International Arbitration at the University of Maryland School of Law.

Education

Georgetown University (LL.M. in International Legal Studies with honors 2010); BPP Law School, London (Legal Practice Course 2004; Postgraduate Diploma in Law 2003); St Peter's College, University of Oxford (B.A. in Modern Languages [French and Portuguese] 2002).

Bar Admissions

District of Columbia, New York, and solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales.