Guglielmo Verdirame

PhD (London School of Economics); MA (Oxon); LLM (London); Laurea (Bologna)

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Guglielmo Verdirame's practice covers both international and domestic litigation in the field of public international law, including investment arbitration, trade, armed conflict and human rights. He is recognised as a leading practitioner in public international law in the main legal directories. The Legal 500 says The ‘very able, academically inclined’ Guglielmo Verdirame has ‘a deep knowledge of public international law'

Guglielmo is Professor of International Law at King's College London.

Practice Highlights

Counsel for the Respondent in Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortakligi v. Republic of Kazakhstan (ICSID Case No. ARB/11/2)

Counsel for the Claimants in Piero Foresti, Laura De Carli and others v Republic of South Africa (ICSID Case No. ARB(AF)/07/1)

Advisor in Kardassopoulos and Fuchs v Republic of Georgia (ICSID Case Nos. ARB/05/18 and ARB/07/15)

Counsel in Al-Rawi and Others v The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2007] 2 W.L.R. 1219 (Articles 3 and 8 of ECHR + Race Relations Act)

Counsel for the Appellant in Adrian Mutu v Chelsea FC (Court of Arbitration for Sports 2008/A/1644)

Various pieces of advisory work. Recent ones include advice on:

- the litigation strategy of a government in connection to restitution claims brought under Article 1, Protocol I of the ECHR;

- the scope and effects of UN sanctions in Iran; and

- the re-structuring of assets/investments worth in excess of USD 1bn with a view to maximising international legal protection.

Specialisations: 

  • Public International Law
  • International Arbitration

Education and Career: 

In September 2011 Guglielmo joined King's College London as Professor of International Law, appointed by both the School of Law and the Department of War Studies.

Between 2003 and 2011 he was a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law and a Fellow of the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law at the University of Cambridge and, prior to that, a research fellow at Merton College, Oxford (2000-2003). In 2007 he was a visiting professorial fellow at Harvard Law School.

He holds the following degrees: PhD (London School of Economics), MA (Oxon), LLM (London), Laurea (Bologna).

Publications: 

  • (with M. Jorek), 'Reparation for Injury in Investment Arbitration' in Trunk, Aliyev (eds.) The Settlement of Disputes in Countries in Transition
  • The United Nations and Human Rights: Who Guards the Guardians? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2011)
  • Guest Editor of the Special Issue on 'Human Rights in War' [2008] European Human Rights Law Review 6
  • "Breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights Resulting from the Conduct of International Organisations", [2008] European Human Rights Law Review 2: 209-213.
  • '"The Divided West": American and European International Lawyers', 18(2) European Journal of International Law (2007) 553-580.
  • 'The Sinews of Peace: International Law, Strategy and the Prevention of War', 78 British Year Book of International Law (2006) 83-162.
  • G. Verdirame and B. E. Harrell-Bond (foreword by Justice Albie Sachs), Rights in Exile: Janus-Faced Humanitarianism, New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books (2005), xxix +385.

Appointments and Society Memberships: 

American Society of International Law, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, International Law Association, European Society of International Law.

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